I did a lot of interviewing and speaking with recruiters last year. I imagine that 2020 is significantly different than 2019, so take this comment with a grain

I did a lot of interviewing and speaking with recruiters last year. I imagine that 2020 is significantly different than 2019, so take this comment with a grain of salt. In my personal experience, recruiters that asked this did not have a serious potential for a new job. That's because recruiters are either 'retained' or the equivalent of bounty hunters. The latter are the kind that have the least information/contact with the hiring manager and are just trying to get the most number of applicants. It's a hustle, and it should be shamed within industry. One should ask if they're retained first, in the initial reply (they may lie, such as all the recruiters I spoke to for a role at Qualcomm). If they aren't, the conversation is likely fruitless, because their incentive is to get your resume to the hiring manager (who they have not spoken to) and not to fill the position. This means they have very little information about the job or team or its potential compensation. To contrast this, some recruiters are plugged into the team and trying to actually fill a role that the hiring manager is too busy to take a part in the search. These folks are great, they usually are extremely insightful and up front about the compensation if you ask. And more importantly, don't tell someone what you're currently being paid - ever. It's illegal for a company to ask in California, and should be illegal everywhere. If its a required field on the form, put the market value + 15% or something like that.