Key Takeaways
- Ghost jobs are postings that never become real employment opportunities.
- An analysis from AI resume builder MyPerfectResume shows that nearly one in three job opportunities are for ghost jobs.
- There were 2.2 million ghost jobs posted in the U.S. in June alone.
Millions of job postings never lead to a hire, according to a new report.
AI resume builder MyPerfectResume used U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data in an analysis published last week, which shows that nearly one in three U.S. job postings go nowhere. In other words, millions of open roles never materialize into real employment opportunities.
In June, for example, there were 7.4 million reported job openings in the U.S. but only 5.2 million hires, leaving over 2.2 million jobs, or 30% of roles, unfilled. Employers advertised these “ghost jobs,” but the roles remained vacant.
“On paper, the labor market looks full of opportunity, but in reality, millions of these postings are illusions,” says Jasmine Escalera, career expert at MyPerfectResume. “Ghost jobs don’t just waste job-seekers’ time. They inflate hope, undermine confidence in employers and create blind spots in the economic data policymakers depend on.”
The gap between openings and hires has existed for years, peaking in 2021 when job postings surged above 11 million, but only six or seven million people were hired. As many as 38% of job postings were for ghost jobs.
Since then, the gap has lingered. Today, the ghost job rate is between 28% and 32%, per the study.
Ghost jobs hurt job-seekers, causing them to pursue nonexistent work opportunities, according to the study. Job-seekers spend time on applications that will never result in interviews or offers, while repeated failure to hire as advertised erodes trust and credibility in employer brands.
“Until postings more accurately reflect actual hiring, workers will continue to chase jobs that don’t exist, and trust in the labor market will erode,” the study reads.
Some of the sectors with the highest percentage of ghost jobs include education and health (50%) and financial activities (44%).
Not all ghost jobs are intentionally fake. Some are the result of labor shortages, or true vacancies that remain unfilled due to a lack of qualified candidates, such as in healthcare and education. Others are due to administrative delays, like budget freezes, that can put hiring on indefinite hold even as jobs remain posted.
In another case, some companies post jobs to maintain a pool of qualified candidates for future openings, rather than immediate needs.
Still, the ghost job economy presents the illusion of a “deceptively strong” U.S. labor market, according to the study. “The ghost job economy inflates hope [and] wastes job-seekers’ time,” the study stated.
Key Takeaways
- Ghost jobs are postings that never become real employment opportunities.
- An analysis from AI resume builder MyPerfectResume shows that nearly one in three job opportunities are for ghost jobs.
- There were 2.2 million ghost jobs posted in the U.S. in June alone.
Millions of job postings never lead to a hire, according to a new report.
AI resume builder MyPerfectResume used U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) data in an analysis published last week, which shows that nearly one in three U.S. job postings go nowhere. In other words, millions of open roles never materialize into real employment opportunities.
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