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1 [1] (April 25, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/ghtjbpstg0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service ~~Informing the legislative debate since 1914 0 April 25, 2025 Ghost Job Postings Introduction Ghost job postings are online job postings for positions that do not exist, or that employers are not planning to fill immediately. Media reports from as early as 2003 indicate that potential ghost jobs have long concerned applicants, but coverage and discussion of the issue has increased in recent years. Potential harms reported by job seekers include unproductive use of their time applying for nonexistent jobs, sapping their confidence. Media reports recount job seekers' frustrations with receiving no replies to numerous applications and resulting suspicion of job postings. This In Focus describes reasons ghost job postings may appear, concerns about ghost jobs contaminating official measures of job openings, existing laws relevant to ghost jobs, and related legislative proposals. Reasons Ghost Job Postings Appear There are multiple possible reasons why companies may post jobs they have no immediate intention to fill. For example, employers may use such postings to • evaluate the potential pool of candidates for future job postings or collect resumes for hiring at a later time; suggest they are growing-either to signal to existing employees that they are replaceable or that their workload may soon be more widely shared, or to attract potential investors; demonstrate they have recruited a diverse pool of applicants, even though they plan to hire an internal candidate; or look for extraordinary potential employees. In some cases, employers may interview applicants when they have no intention of hiring anyone. Some ghost job postings are not deliberate. Changed circumstances may alter employers' intent to hire. In addition, ghost jobs can result from actions taken by third parties, such as online job boards automatically copying postings from other websites. If an employer hires someone for a position, the employer may remove the posting from the website where it was originally posted, not realizing it was copied elsewhere. Staffing agencies may also invent and post job openings to show employers they could recruit talented people. Fraudulent scammers may advertise fake positions at fake companies or impersonate actual employers. Ghost jobs in Official Statistics There are no official statistics on the magnitude of ghost jobs. Official statistics on job openings in the United States are measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). This survey includes thousands of employers every month and asks them about job openings, newly hired employees, and job separations. It measures job openings as the total number of positions open on the last business day of the month. It counts only job openings for which a specific position exists and there is work available for that position (either full or part-time), the job could start within 30 days, and the employer is actively recruiting outside workers. These criteria mean that if employers answer the JOLTS questionnaire honestly, the job openings measured in JOLTS are unlikely to be ghost jobs. Many of the potential incentives for ghost job postings do not apply to JOLTS reporting. For example, JOLTS reporting is confidential, so signaling or messaging through reporting would be fruitless. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also monitors survey data for discrepancies between job openings and new hires. There may be ambiguity, however, in the intensity of active recruiting to fill a position. JOLTS data have been available since December 2000. Job openings in these data reached record high levels in 2022, but have since declined to levels observed in 2018 and 2019. This recent decline in true job openings may exacerbate job seekers concerns over ghost job postings. Ghost jobs in Industry Surveys A September 2022 survey of managers conducted by a business lending firm drew media attention to ghost job postings. Subsequent surveys by the same and other firms involved in recruiting have also received media coverage, along with analyses of job postings conducted by recruiting software and workforce intelligence companies. Some analyses have expressed skepticism regarding the incidence of ghost jobs. The firms behind these studies market hiring-related services, including job posting verification tools. They have released varying levels of information regarding the methodologies of the surveys and analyses, making it difficult to assess the quality of ghost job prevalence estimates based on these data. Relevant Existing Laws Deceptive job advertisements may violate federal consumer protection law. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices in https://crsreports.congress.gov

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