The term ‘ghost jobs‘ may sound harmless, but it describes a growing practice in which employers advertise vacancies that are not actually available.
In some cases, the roles have already been filled. In others, the positions never existed at all. The phenomenon has become a persistent issue on both sides of the Atlantic.
Research by recruitment software firm Greenhouse found that up to 22 percent of jobs advertised online last year across the United States, United Kingdom and Germany were posted with no intention to hire. A separate UK study put the figure even higher, at 34 percent.
Official US data underline the disconnect. Figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that while there were 7.2 million job openings in August, only 5.1 million hires were recorded, raising questions about how many vacancies were genuinely active.
The issue has prompted growing calls for regulation. In the United States, technology worker Eric Thompson has emerged as a leading advocate against ghost job postings. After being laid off from a start-up last year, Mr Thompson spent months applying for hundreds of roles without success, eventually concluding that many of the advertised positions were not real.
His experience led him to form a working group pushing for legislation to outlaw misleading job adverts. He has since worked with members of the US Congress to develop a proposal known as the Truth in Job Advertising and Accountability Act, which would require expiry dates for job listings, auditable hiring records and penalties for employers who post non-existent roles.
Mr Thompson has also launched a petition that has attracted more than 50,000 signatures. He says many signatories have shared personal stories about how applying for ghost jobs has damaged their confidence and mental health.
At the state level, lawmakers in New Jersey and California are considering measures to curb the practice. Canada has moved further. From 1 January, companies in Ontario will be required to disclose whether advertised vacancies are actively being filled.
Ontario is also addressing the related issue of recruitment “ghosting”, where employers fail to respond to applicants. Under new rules, companies with more than 25 employees must respond to candidates they have interviewed within 45 days, though there is no obligation to reply to applicants who were not shortlisted.
Deborah Hudson, a Toronto-based employment lawyer, says some firms are already seeking guidance on compliance, but she remains cautious about enforcement. She questions whether regulators have sufficient resources to monitor employers effectively, noting that enforcement may ultimately depend on complaints from affected candidates.
Elsewhere in Canada, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom, there is currently no legal requirement for employers to respond to applicants, nor are there concrete plans to regulate ghost job postings or recruitment ghosting.
