[wallflower]

It is all about the employer maintaining the power in salary setting.

Think of airlines. In the handful of times, I've asked how much people have paid for their seat. I've gotten ranges of a couple hundred dollars in both directions for a cross-country flight. Some of it was when the ticket was bought. And I thought I was getting a deal on Priceline...

There are always disparities in salary. The most glaring and entrenched - being that of males and females of near equivalency being paid different amounts.

If all salaries were made public, you would have to equalize salaries to prevent the fomenting dissension.

This can be done at smaller organizations. For larger organizations (think Fortune 500), the higher-ups could not keep their larger salaries because a) they would not be able to justify them (as much) and b) their larger salaries may have been largely due to 'taking a larger share of the pot'.

[grecy]

> It is all about the employer maintaining the power in salary setting.

I agree 100% and I've always found it kind of creepy - like giving candy to a kid levels of creepy.

"Here is your pay check Mr. Jones - but be sure not to tell anyone how much it is"

is very similar to

"Here is some candy Jonny, but make sure you don't tell anyone else I gave you that candy, or how much I gave you"

In both scenarios why is the "giver" trying to conceal the details of the transaction?

Because they've got something to gain by keeping it a secret.