Quick answer: Ghost jobs are real, but nobody agrees on how many there are. Greenhouse platform data puts them at 18 to 22% of postings in any quarter, while 40% of hiring managers in a 2024 Resume Builder survey said their company posted a fake job that year. The often quoted “1 in 3” figure comes from the BLS gap between openings and hires (7.1 million vs 5.2 million in August 2026), which is not a ghost job count. On the law side, Ontario is the only jurisdiction we could verify with a vacancy disclosure rule in force (since January 1, 2026); New York’s S8877 passed both houses on June 2, 2026 but was still unsigned on October 8, 2026.
Data as of October 8, 2026. Sources: BLS JOLTS (August 2026), Greenhouse, Resume Builder, Clarify Capital, MyPerfectResume, iHire, Congressional Research Service, and official legislature and government pages for Ontario, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Kentucky, Washington and the EU. Updated October 2026.
What is a ghost job, exactly?
A ghost job is a public job posting for a role that does not exist, is already filled, or that the employer has no plan to fill soon. The Congressional Research Service uses almost exactly that definition in its April 2025 brief.
Not every ghost job is deliberate. CRS points out that job boards often copy postings automatically, so an employer can take down its own ad and never realise a scraped copy is still live somewhere else.
Ghost jobs are also different from scam jobs. A scam posting is fraud aimed at stealing money or identity data. A ghost job usually comes from a real employer that is collecting resumes, signalling growth, or simply forgot to close the ad. If you need the wider vocabulary, our recruiting glossary covers the related terms.
How common are ghost jobs in 2026?
Somewhere between about 1 in 7 and 1 in 5 live postings is the most defensible range, based on the two sources that measure postings directly rather than asking people for opinions.
Greenhouse reported in December 2024 that 18 to 22% of jobs posted on its platform in any given quarter were classified as ghost jobs. Clarify Capital scraped 176,268 Indeed listings in February 2026 and flagged 1 in 7 postings as possible ghost jobs because they had been live for 30 days or more.
Survey numbers run much higher, because they measure something else. They count the share of companies or recruiters that admit to ever posting a ghost job, not the share of postings that are fake.
Why do the ghost job numbers disagree so much?
Because each study asks a different question of a different group. The table below lines them up with sample, date and what was actually measured.
| Source and date | Who or what was measured | Finding | Why it reads high or low |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse, Dec 2024 | Jobs posted on the Greenhouse ATS, per quarter | 18 to 22% classified as ghost jobs | Real posting data, but only covers employers that use Greenhouse |
| Clarify Capital, Feb 2026 | 176,268 Indeed listings | 1 in 7 live 30+ days | Uses posting age as a proxy; some old roles are genuinely hard to fill |
| Resume Builder, May 2024 | 1,641 hiring managers screened, 649 completed | 40% say company posted a fake job in past year; 30% have one live now | Share of companies, not postings; online panel |
| Clarify Capital, Aug to Sep 2022 | 1,045 managers involved in hiring | 43% not actively trying to fill a live posting | Share of managers; 2022 market was unusually hot |
| Clarify Capital, 2025 | 1,000 US employers, 200 job seekers | 1 in 5 leave roles unfilled to cut costs while appearing to hire | Share of employers, self reported |
| MyPerfectResume, 2024 | 753 recruiters | 81% say employer posted ghost or filled jobs | “Ever did it” question; no fieldwork dates published |
| MyPerfectResume, Jun 2026 update | BLS JOLTS openings minus hires | 32.9% (March 2026 preliminary) | Treats every unfilled opening as a ghost job; see next section |
| iHire, Oct 2026 | 1,000+ job seekers, 300+ employers | 39.3% of seekers say fake or ghost jobs are their main problem | Perception, and lumps scams in with ghost jobs |
CRS made the same point in 2025: the firms behind most ghost job studies sell hiring related services and release uneven detail on method, so prevalence estimates are hard to judge. Treat any single number as a signal, not a census.
What do Indeed and LinkedIn say?
Indeed’s Trust and Safety team said in May 2026 that it does not allow ghost jobs, removes postings without real hiring intent, and that a large majority of its listings show ongoing employer engagement. It also tracks its posting index against BLS job openings.
LinkedIn is under scrutiny. On July 14, 2026, the Texas Attorney General opened an investigation into whether LinkedIn misled Premium subscribers by profiting from ghost jobs, and issued a civil investigative demand. That is an investigation, not a finding.
Does the gap between job openings and hires prove ghost jobs exist?
No. It is the most misused number in this debate. In August 2026, BLS JOLTS data showed 7.1 million job openings and 5.2 million hires. July was revised to 7.3 million openings and 5.1 million hires.
Work Insiders estimate: the August gap is 7.1 million minus 5.2 million, or 1.9 million, which is 1.9 ÷ 7.1 = 26.8% of openings. For July it is 2.2 ÷ 7.3 = 30.1%. Senator Ruben Gallego cited a persistent 30 percent gap since 2021 in his June 2026 letters to BLS.
Here is why that gap is not a ghost job rate. Openings are a snapshot on the last business day of the month. Hires are a flow across the whole month. Some roles take months to fill, some get cancelled honestly, and high churn sectors hire more people than they ever have open at once. That is why MyPerfectResume’s own table shows negative “ghost rates” for construction and leisure and hospitality.
JOLTS also screens out most ghost jobs by design. CRS notes that an opening only counts if a specific position exists, work could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting outside workers. For more on reading these numbers, see our openings vs hires breakdown and the labor market trackers we follow.
Why do companies post ghost jobs?
Mostly to build pipelines and send signals. In the Resume Builder survey, companies that posted fake jobs said they did it to look open to outside talent (67%), to look like they were growing (66%), to make staff think help was coming (63%), to make staff feel replaceable (62%), and to collect resumes for later (59%).
Recruiters gave more operational reasons. MyPerfectResume’s 2024 poll of 753 recruiters found 38% post to test response to hard to fill roles, 38% to keep a presence on job boards while not hiring, and 36% to test job description wording.
Clarify Capital’s 2025 survey added cost: 1 in 5 employers said they leave roles unfilled to reduce costs while appearing active, and 1 in 5 said investors or stakeholders pressure them to keep up an image of growth.
The innocent explanation matters too. Budgets get frozen after a post goes live, evergreen roles in retail and restaurants stay open on purpose, and syndicated copies linger after the original is closed.
Which ghost job laws are actually in force in 2026?
Only one that we could verify: Ontario. Every US ghost job bill we checked was pending, stalled or dead on October 8, 2026. We checked each status on the official legislature or government page; anything we could not confirm there is marked as unverified.
| Jurisdiction | Law or bill | Status (Oct 8, 2026) | Effective date | What it requires | Official page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ontario, Canada | Employment Standards Act job posting rules (Working for Workers Four and Five Acts) | In effect | January 1, 2026 | Employers with 25+ staff must state whether a vacancy exists, give pay or a range, disclose AI screening, drop Canadian experience requirements, and tell interviewees within 45 days whether a decision was made | Ontario ESA guide |
| New York | S8877 / A6292A | Passed both houses June 2, 2026; not signed (no delivery to governor listed) | Immediately on signing | Employers with 100+ staff and job platforms must state in bold capitals a fill date, a “no sooner than” date, or that it is not a current vacancy; remove filled ads within two weeks; $2,500 fine per ad, rising if uncured | NY Senate S8877 |
| New York | S9208 / A9401 | Pending in Senate Labor Committee | None | Remove inactive postings within 14 days; notify third party boards within 7 days | NY Senate S9208 |
| New Jersey | S2136 | Pending; reported with amendments by Senate Labor Committee May 11, 2026 (latest official text; any later floor action status unverified) | First day of 13th month after enactment (as amended) | Employers with more than 10 staff state existing vacancy and timeframe, or an “anticipated vacancy” disclaimer that expires after 120 days; remove filled ads within two weeks or 30 days of posting, whichever is later; up to $300 then $600 after a 7 business day cure | NJ S2136 text |
| New Jersey | A1161 | Pending; reported with amendments by Assembly Labor Committee March 16, 2026 (latest official text; any later floor action status unverified) | Immediately on enactment (as amended) | Same core rules as S2136, plus a status update to interviewed applicants | NJ A1161 text |
| Pennsylvania | HB 2321 | Pending; referred to Labor and Industry March 26, 2026; no votes | None | Job posting requirements and penalties (sponsor memo: “Banning Ghost Job Postings”) | PA HB 2321 |
| California | AB 1251 | Stalled; held under submission in Senate Appropriations August 29, 2025; no later action listed | None | Disclose whether a posting is for an actual vacancy | CA AB 1251 |
| California | AB 2560 (2023 to 2024) | Not a ghost job bill; a housing density bonus bill that died in 2024 | None | Nothing on job postings | CA AB 2560 |
| Kentucky | HB 57 (2025) | Died in committee; no action after referral February 4, 2025 | None | Ban ghost job postings, with a penalty | KY HB 57 |
| Kentucky | HB 342 (2026) | Died in committee; no action after referral January 21, 2026 (page updated August 19, 2026) | None | Ban ghost job postings, with a penalty | KY HB 342 |
| Washington | RCW 49.58.110 (pay transparency) | In effect; no ghost job bill found | January 1, 2023; cure period for postings July 27, 2025 to July 27, 2027 | Employers with 15+ staff list pay range and benefits in every posting; nothing on vacancy status | RCW 49.58.110 |
| United States (federal) | Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act | Not introduced; advocacy draft only | None | Proposed national rules on intent to hire, pay and AI disclosure | CRS IF12977 |
| European Union | Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 | Adopted May 10, 2023; national transposition by each member state: status unverified | Transposition deadline June 7, 2026 | Applicants get starting pay or range before interview (for example in the vacancy notice); no pay history questions; gender neutral job ads | EU Directive 2023/970 |
| Texas | Attorney General investigation of LinkedIn (not a law) | Opened July 14, 2026 | Not applicable | Civil investigative demand under consumer protection law | Texas AG release |
What does Ontario’s ghost job rule require?
Since January 1, 2026, Ontario employers with 25 or more employees must say in every public posting whether it is for an existing vacancy, meaning a position “imminently available” for a qualified candidate. The Ontario government backgrounder credits this rule and the 45 day interview reply rule to the Working for Workers Five Act.
The same postings must also show pay or a pay range (no wider than $50,000, and not required above $200,000), disclose any AI used to screen, assess or select applicants, and avoid Canadian experience requirements. Employers keep copies of postings for three years, and staffing firms that interview on a client’s behalf are covered through the client.
Is New York’s ghost job law signed yet?
Not as of October 8, 2026. The New York Senate page shows S8877 passed the Senate on April 28, 2026 and the Assembly on June 2, 2026, with no delivery to the governor, signature or chapter number recorded. A September 16, 2026 Jackson Lewis update also lists it as awaiting Governor Hochul’s signature.
If signed, it takes effect immediately, so New York employers with 100 or more staff would have no grace period. Watch our Staffing Market Brief for the outcome.
Is there a federal ghost job law?
No. The Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act is a draft written by a grassroots group, Truth in Job Ads, which reported 50,000 petition signatures in November 2025. We found no bill number for it, CRS said in April 2025 that no ghost job bills had been introduced in Congress, and HR Dive reported in June 2026 that none were pending.
How can candidates spot a ghost job?
Look at age, specificity and behaviour. Clarify Capital’s own advice is that a job posted 48 hours ago is far more likely to be live than one posted three months ago, and Indeed points to a recent posting date, verifiable employer details and a role specific description as signs of real hiring intent.
| Red flag | Why it matters | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Posted 30+ days ago, or reposted repeatedly | Clarify’s 2026 scrape used 30 days as its ghost job marker | Check the employer careers page for the same req and date |
| Vague duties and no team or manager named | Pipeline postings are often generic | Ask the recruiter who the hiring manager is |
| No pay range in a state that requires one | Signals a careless or noncompliant posting | Compare with pay rules where the job is based |
| Listed only on aggregators, not the company site | Scraped copies often outlive the original | Apply on the employer’s own site |
| Labelled “evergreen” or “talent pool” | Honest, but not a current vacancy | Apply only if you are happy to wait |
| Interviews, then silence for 6+ weeks | Ontario now requires a decision update within 45 days | Follow up once, then move on |
What should employers and recruiters do to comply?
Clean up postings now, even where no law applies yet. The bills that have moved share the same core: say whether the vacancy is real, give a timeframe, and take filled ads down within about two weeks.
| Action | Covers which rule | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Add a vacancy status line to every template: existing vacancy, anticipated vacancy, or talent pool | Ontario now; NY S8877 and NJ S2136 if enacted | TA ops |
| Add a target fill date or “no sooner than” date field to the requisition | NY S8877, NJ bills | Recruiter and hiring manager |
| Close the req and all syndicated ads within 14 days of a start date | NY S8877, NY S9208, NJ bills | ATS admin |
| Send every interviewed candidate a decision update within 45 days | Ontario now; NJ A1161 | Recruiter |
| Disclose AI screening in Ontario postings | Ontario ESA | TA ops and legal |
| Keep pay ranges in postings and archive every version for 3 years | Ontario, Washington, EU directive | TA ops |
| Run a monthly audit of posts older than 30 days | Best practice everywhere | TA ops |
Staffing agencies need extra care. New Jersey’s amended S2136 lets registered temporary help and consulting firms run “anticipated vacancy” ads, but they must say so and remove them after 120 days. In Ontario, the client employer is responsible for compliance when an agency posts or interviews for it.
To check which AI and posting rules apply by location, use our AI hiring law checker. If your ATS cannot auto close syndicated ads, compare options in our recruiting software directory.
What this means for recruiters
Candidates already assume the worst: 3 in 5 told Greenhouse they suspect they have met a ghost job, and 97% of job seekers in Clarify’s 2025 survey want pipeline postings labelled. Honest labels cost little and protect response rates on your real reqs. Stale postings also distort your time to hire metrics, so closing them fast pays off twice.
How we built this page
We pulled prevalence figures directly from each publisher’s own page (Greenhouse, Resume Builder, Clarify Capital, MyPerfectResume, Indeed) and from HR Dive’s October 2026 coverage of the iHire report. Openings and hires come from the BLS JOLTS release for August 2026, published September 29, 2026. Every law status was checked on October 8, 2026 on the official legislature or government page linked in the tracker. The openings vs hires percentages are a Work Insiders calculation, shown with arithmetic. An Express Employment Professionals and Harris Poll survey (August 2026, reported by HR Dive) found HR professionals said an average of 21% of open roles were closed without being filled; that measures cancelled roles rather than ghost jobs, so it is left out of the chart. We could not find a Software Finder survey on ghost job prevalence to verify.
Quick answers
What percentage of job postings are ghost jobs?
The best posting level evidence puts it at roughly 14% to 22%: 1 in 7 Indeed listings were live 30+ days in February 2026 (Clarify Capital), and 18 to 22% of Greenhouse postings per quarter were ghost jobs in 2024.
Is “1 in 3 jobs are fake” true?
No. That figure comes from dividing the gap between BLS openings and hires by openings. Openings and hires measure different things, so the gap is not a ghost job count.
Are ghost jobs illegal?
In Ontario, employers with 25+ staff must now disclose whether a vacancy exists. In the US, no state ghost job ban was in force on October 8, 2026, though state consumer protection laws may apply, as Texas is testing with LinkedIn.
Did New York pass a ghost job law?
The legislature passed S8877 on June 2, 2026, but the governor had not signed it as of October 8, 2026. It would apply to employers with 100+ employees and job platforms.
Did California pass a ghost job bill?
No. AB 1251 has been held in Senate Appropriations since August 29, 2025. AB 2560, sometimes named in coverage, was a housing bill.
Does the EU Pay Transparency Directive ban ghost jobs?
No. It requires pay or a pay range before the interview, bans pay history questions and requires gender neutral ads. Member states had until June 7, 2026 to put it into national law.
Can a company post a talent pool ad legally?
Yes, if it says so. Ontario requires a “no existing vacancy” statement, and New York’s and New Jersey’s bills set out wording for future or anticipated vacancies.
How fast must filled jobs come down?
Under New York S8877 and New Jersey’s bills, within two weeks of filling (New Jersey allows 30 days from posting if later). None of these is law yet.
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