A: Your company is not paying you decently for what you’re doing. Why don’t you find another job?

    B: Because I feel like there’s a level playing field as far as my opportunities for advancement go.

    Note: This idiom refers to a “fair competition where no side has an advantage.” This phrase clearly alludes to the requirement for fairness in games which are played from end to end and where a slope would give one team an advantage, for example, football. The figurative use of the phrase isn’t especially old and it was used in the 1970s. This harks back to another American phrase, from about a century before — “on the level,” which means “honest” or “straightforward.”