I think you’re confusing “don’t know” with “not willing to do the basic research on what they’re looking for because there is no reason to do so”. Why would an

I think you’re confusing “don’t know” with “not willing to do the basic research on what they’re looking for because there is no reason to do so”. Why would an employer spend any time thinking about the salary they’re willing to offer when there is no penalty for not doing so. The party that does suffer are the applicants who have to sit through many rounds of interviews before finding out the max salary the job is offering is a fraction of what they’re being paid right now. The lack of transparency is a classic neutral-lose situation, where the neutral party has the power in the relationship dynamics. It’s the perfect situation for the govt to step in and require transparency.