that's because you are not a new hire. i have colleagues that joined as a E5 in 2006-2009 with a basic salary of 2.4k-2.8k. After 15 years of 2-4% increment and 3 or 4 promotions from E5 to E6 to M1 to M2, they end up with a basic salary of around 5.2k - 6k. But this year new hire M1 join with 7k-7.5k basic salary, new hire M2 join with 7.5k - 8.5k basic salary.