What percentage of job postings are ghost jobs?

In our own tracked sample of 551 postings between 16 July and 1 August 2026, 59.7 percent had no reachable human attached to them at all, and only 1.3 percent carried a signal that someone was actively hiring. Published estimates elsewhere put the ghost share around 18 to 22 percent, but those count only listings that are dead outright, not listings nobody is reading.

How do you measure a ghost job?

We record the first time we ever see a posting, then every time we see it again. That first-seen ledger catches reposts that carry a fresh date, which is the trick a posting date cannot show you. We then check whether a named person or a mailbox-verified contact exists behind the role.

Can I check whether a specific job posting is a ghost job?

Yes. Sendout filters ghost postings automatically before applying, and the free live jobs board at automation.companaro.com/jobs only shows postings that passed the filter.

Home › The Ghost Job Index

Data · updated monthly

The Ghost Job Index

We track every job posting we come across and check one thing. Is there a real human behind it? Most of the time there isn't. This page publishes the number and updates it every month.

Reading period 16 July to 1 August 2026 · next update early September · method below

Most postings have nobody behind them

We tracked 551 job postings across 428 companies between 16 July and 1 August 2026. Here's what we found. For each one we looked for a reachable human. A named poster, a mailbox-verified address, someone who could actually answer.

222 of 551 postings (40.3%) had any reachable contact at all.
329 of 551 (59.7%) had none. No named person, no working address, nobody.
152 (27.6%) named a poster on the listing itself.
7 (1.3%) carried a signal that someone was actively hiring right now.

That last number should change how you job hunt. One in seventy-seven.

Reposts hide behind fresh dates

A posting date doesn't tell you when a role opened. It tells you when the listing was last touched. So we keep a first-seen ledger. It records the first time we ever see a role. Then every time it comes back.

Across 4,658 postings tracked since 20 July, 307 (6.6%) came back at least once inside fourteen days. They didn't look like reposts. Some came back three times in twelve days. Each time they looked new.

Fourteen days isn't long enough to catch the worst of it. A role reposted quarterly needs a quarter of watching. That number will climb as this ledger ages. We will publish it either way.

Want this run on one posting? The free ghost job checker takes a company and a job title, checks them against this same ledger and our contact records, and tells you what it finds. No signup.

Method, in full

Sample. Every posting our scanner encountered in the period. Not a survey, not a panel. Real listings from LinkedIn and the ATS boards: Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday.
Reachable human. A named poster on the listing, or a contact address that survives mailbox verification. A careers@ catch-all does not count.
Hiring signal. Evidence the named person is currently recruiting for this role, not merely employed at the company.
First-seen ledger. Every posting is fingerprinted on company and title. We record first sight, last sight, and total sightings.
What we do not claim. A posting with no reachable contact isn't proven dead. It's proven unanswerable. For an applicant that's the same outcome.

Why the number is worse than the ones you have read

Published estimates put ghost jobs at around 18 to 22 percent. We think that's generous. Those count listings that are dead outright. Filled, cancelled, never real.

We're measuring something different. Not "is this posting dead" but "can anyone on the other end hear me". By that test it isn't one in five. It's closer to three in five.

Use the data

These numbers are free to cite. Just link back to this page. If you are writing about ghost jobs and want the underlying breakdown, the method above is complete enough to reproduce. We will answer questions at hello@companaro.com.

The free live jobs board shows only postings that passed this filter. No signup. Sendout applies the same filter before it applies to anything on your behalf, then emails the hiring manager from your own inbox.