If you've been job searching lately and feeling like your applications are disappearing into a void — it might not be you.
I've been there. I know what it feels like to spend an hour crafting a cover letter, hit submit and hear absolutely nothing back. You start wondering if you're qualified for anything at all. That silence is demoralizing in a way that's hard to describe to someone who hasn't felt it.
When I first came across the term "ghost job" I thought it was what happens when companies forget to take down a listing after they fill the role, or when the posting date is stale and nobody noticed. Sloppy, but probably not intentional.
Turns out it's much bigger than that.
Researchers estimate that between 20 to 30 percent of listings online right now are ghost jobs — positions posted with no real intent to hire. In February 2026 U.S. employers reported 6.9 million job openings but made fewer than 5 million actual hires. That's a gap of nearly 2 million "jobs."
And here's the part that really stings — 81% of recruiters admit their employer has posted ghost jobs. 40% of companies posted a fake listing in the past year. Some do it to collect resumes for future roles. Some do it to signal growth to investors. Some even do it to make current employees feel replaceable.
What's being done about it:
New York's state senate passed a bill in April 2026 requiring employers to disclose whether a role is actively being filled or just collecting resumes. California, New Jersey and Pennsylvania have similar legislation in progress. Ontario, Canada already has a law on the books — the first jurisdiction anywhere to require employers to prove their listings are genuine. At the federal level the Transparent Job Advertising Accountability Act has been introduced in Congress.
Washington State hasn't taken up specific ghost job legislation yet — but given the state's history of being ahead of the curve on worker protections, it likely won't be far behind.
None of this makes the silence easier. But if you've been applying and not hearing back, some of those applications may have gone nowhere — not because of anything you did or didn't do, but because the listing wasn't real to begin with.
Every listing on this site is a verified job opening from a real business or organization actively hiring. That's why I built this — not to be the biggest job board, but one you can trust.