Because experience is a very weak signal and skills are hard to quantify and extremely hard to measure in the relative brevity of the interview process. There

Because experience is a very weak signal and skills are hard to quantify and extremely hard to measure in the relative brevity of the interview process. There are obviously problems with a reliance on salary as a signal of quality/value produced. But I don't understand the impulse to pretend that there isn't nontrivial signal in a previous salary.