Ghost Jobs Statistics 2026
of postings are recycled — the same title+company re-posted 3+ times. Measured from deduplicated postings, not surveyed or guessed.
42,783
recycled listings in the pool
428
combos posted 10+ times
18–22%
external ghost-job estimates (directionally aligned)
In 204,223 US tech & professional postings, 20.9% are recycled — the same title+company re-posted three or more times. We measure observed posting behavior, not whether any single job is “fake.”
The most-cited ghost-job numbers are surveys. Here is what postings actually do — measured, with honest definitions and curated industry research.
Key findings
- 20.9% of postings are recycled (42,783 listings) — measured, not surveyed.
- 428 distinct title+company combos were posted 10+ times.
- External research puts true ghost-job (no-hiring-activity) rates around 18-22% — directionally aligned with our recycling data.
The measured number: 1 in 5 postings is a repost
This is the only ghost-job figure on this page we measure directly — the recycled share of postings. It is a behavioral signal (the same role re-listed under new IDs), not a claim that any individual job is “fake.”
of postings are recycled (the same title+company posted 3+ times)
Measured, not guessed. From 204,223 deduplicated US tech & professional postings. A repost is observed behavior, not proof of intent.
The hosts that recycle the most
Recycling concentrates on recruiter and staffing-oriented hosts; large company ATS instances recycle far less. Amber rows recycle half or more of their own postings. This is observed behavior by host, not a judgment of any one employer.
- 1brightvisiontechnologies.appl…92.3%n=891
- 2simera-talent.freshteam.com74.7%n=651
- 3microsoft65.1%n=1,769
- 4www.capitalonecareers.com52.1%n=705
- 5ziprecruiter39.3%n=3,242
- 6careers.unitedhealthgroup.com34.3%n=534
- 7careers.google.com30.1%n=745
- 8amazon29%n=3,765
- 9eeho.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com27.7%n=874
- 10lever27.5%n=7,156
- 11jpmorganchase.contacthr.com27.5%n=918
- 12www.google.com23.1%n=740
The numbered stats (for citation)
Our data first, clearly separated from industry research. Every figure below is measured from deduplicated postings, not self-reported.
- 20.9% of US tech & professional postings are recycled (title+company posted 3×+).
- That is 42,783 recycled listings in the pool.
- 9,709 distinct title+company combinations were posted three or more times.
- 1,813 combos were posted 5-9 times.
- 428 combos were posted 10 or more times.
- The most-recycled ATS host recycles 92.3% of its postings.
- Industry: Greenhouse reported ~18-22% of postings with no hiring activity.
- Industry: a 2024 arXiv working paper (Hunter Ng) estimated up to ~21% ghost postings.
Our data: recycled-posting share
20.9%
of postings are recycled (3×+)
42,783 listings
428
combos posted 10+ times
9,709
combos posted 3+ times
How many times the same role is posted
Most title+company combinations appear once. But a long tail is posted again and again — and that tail is where recycled supply concentrates. The chart counts how many distinct combos fall in each repost bucket.
Recycling by where the job is hosted
Recycling is not uniform across application hosts. Some recruiter and staffing-oriented hosts recycle the vast majority of their postings; large company ATS instances recycle far less. This is observed behavior by host, not a judgment of any one employer.
Tiered definitions (never one blended number)
“Ghost job” gets used for very different things. Collapsing them into a single scary percentage is misleading, so we keep the tiers distinct:
Stale
A single posting left open well past a normal hiring cycle.
Pipeline
An evergreen req kept open to collect resumes for future needs.
Recycled (what we measure)
The same title+company re-posted under new IDs — 20.9% of our pool.
Likely-ghost
A posting with no detectable hiring activity (estimated by external research, not us).
Industry research (clearly separated)
These figures come from third parties, not our pool. We keep them apart so the measured and the surveyed never get confused:
- Greenhouse reported roughly 18-22% of postings showing no hiring activity in their applicant-tracking data.
- Hunter Ng (arXiv, 2024 working paper) estimated up to ~21% of postings may be ghost jobs.
- Employer surveys (e.g. Resume-Builder-style polls) report higher numbers, but these are self-reported opinion data — flagged as such, not measurement.
How this was measured (n=204,223)
Sample: 204,223 postings · Window: 2026-03-20 – 2026-06-09
Method
- Recycled-posting share = distinct title+company combinations posted three or more times under different posting IDs.
- Combo-size buckets count distinct combinations, not individual listings.
- Repeat-by-host share computed within each ATS host's postings.
- External figures are cited from named third-party research, not recomputed here.
Limitations
- We measure recycling, not employer intent — a recycled posting is not proven 'fake'.
- Industry ghost-job rates are external estimates with different methodologies.
- Corpus is tech & professional roles, not all US jobs.
- ghost_score is application-biased and is not used as a market-wide stat here.
Salary figures are platform-estimated posted ranges (posted or estimated), not employer disclosure. Corpus is tech & professional roles.