Sovia

Ghost Job Index

April 2026

We scanned 21,935 active job listings and ghost-scored 21,935 of them (100% coverage). Average Ghost Score: 18/100.

Active Listings

21,935

Ghost-Scored

21,935

Likely Real

85%

Suspicious or Ghost

5%

Avg Ghost Score

18/100

Overall Distribution

Likely Real85%(18,634)
Uncertain10%(2,120)
Suspicious4%(952)
Likely Ghost1%(229)

Most Common Ghost Indicators

These are the signals that fire most often across all analyzed listings.

1

No company logo

Found in 100% of flagged jobs

2

Salary range disclosed

Found in 81% of flagged jobs

3

High buzzword density

Found in 60% of flagged jobs

4

Recent posting (8-14 days)

Found in 33% of flagged jobs

5

No skills listed

Found in 33% of flagged jobs

6

No salary info

Found in 18% of flagged jobs

7

Posted 30-59 days ago

Found in 9% of flagged jobs

8

Job aggregator (proxy posting)

Found in 6% of flagged jobs

9

Possible staffing/consulting firm

Found in 5% of flagged jobs

10

Aggregator or proxy posting

Found in 4% of flagged jobs

11

Suspicious salary range

Found in 1% of flagged jobs

What Is a Ghost Job?

A ghost job is a job listing that appears active but isn't genuinely available. Companies post ghost jobs for a variety of reasons: to build a talent pipeline, to appear like they're growing, to collect resumes for future openings, or simply because no one removed an expired posting. For job seekers, ghost jobs waste valuable time and create false hope.

Research estimates that anywhere from 20% to 40% of online job listings may be ghost jobs. The SoviaJobs Ghost Job Index tracks this phenomenon in real time, analyzing thousands of listings across multiple job platforms to give you an accurate picture of the market.

Our detection engine evaluates 23 signals per listing, including posting age, salary transparency, description quality, company hiring patterns, and more. Each signal is weighted and combined into a Ghost Score from 0 (definitely real) to 100 (almost certainly ghost). You can check any job's Ghost Score for free with the Sovia Chrome extension.

Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of jobs are ghost jobs?
Based on our real-time analysis of thousands of job listings, we find that a significant portion show ghost job indicators. The exact percentage varies by industry and time of year. Our Ghost Job Index tracks this metric monthly to give job seekers accurate, up-to-date data.
How does SoviaJobs detect ghost jobs?
Sovia analyzes 23 signals for each job listing, including posting age, salary transparency, job description specificity, company hiring patterns, reposting frequency, and more. Each signal contributes to a Ghost Score from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate a greater likelihood the posting is inactive or misleading.
Which industries have the most ghost jobs?
Ghost job prevalence varies by industry. Our data shows that some sectors — particularly those with high-volume hiring and recruiting agency involvement — tend to have higher ghost job rates. Check our category breakdown below for the latest data.
What are the signs of a ghost job?
Common ghost job indicators include: postings older than 60 days, vague job descriptions with excessive buzzwords, no salary range disclosed, no specific hiring manager listed, reposted multiple times, and companies with a pattern of never removing old listings. Sovia checks all of these automatically.

Embed Ghost Job Statistics

Bloggers, journalists, and researchers — embed the latest ghost job statistics on your site. Copy the HTML snippet below.

<blockquote>
  <p>As of April 2026, 5% of job postings show ghost job indicators.</p>
  <cite>Source: <a href="https://www.soviajobs.com/ghost-job-index">SoviaJobs Ghost Job Index</a></cite>
</blockquote>

Stop applying to ghost jobs

Install Sovia's free Chrome extension to instantly check any job listing's Ghost Score — before you waste time applying.

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