You contradict yourself when you say employers don't know what they would be willing to pay someone, but then somehow manage to come up with a number when they

You contradict yourself when you say employers don't know what they would be willing to pay someone, but then somehow manage to come up with a number when they start recruiting. You even say you would post a job ad with that range? That's what the law wants, so I don't actually understand what you're arguing against here. If it's genuinely true that a company has no idea what they might pay someone they want to hire, they're just not ready to hire someone. "It's that easy."