APPLYSTEAD RESEARCH
Ghost job statistics 2026: how long job listings stay open
21.4% of the 4,732,296 job listings open on 9 major applicant tracking systems had been live for more than 90 days, and 26.6% for more than 60 days (Applystead job catalog, as of October 4, 2026).
How long the 4,732,296 open listings in the Applystead job catalog on October 4, 2026 had been live, from 9 applicant tracking systems, and which platforms carry the most long-open listings.
Key findings
- 4,732,296 job listings were open across 9 applicant tracking systems when we counted the Applystead job catalog on October 4, 2026.
- 48.7% had been open for more than 30 days since the catalog first recorded them, 26.6% for more than 60 days and 21.4% for more than 90 days.
- Among platforms with at least 10,000 open listings, SmartRecruiters had the largest share open more than 90 days (47.9%) and Jobvite the smallest (0.0%).
- Ghost jobs - listings an employer keeps open without a plan to hire soon - cannot be identified from a listing alone; long-open listings are the part that can be measured, and some of them are real roles that are hard to fill.
How long job listings stay open
Every share is of all 4,732,296 open listings, by days since the catalog first recorded each listing.
Open listings by time open
| Time open | Open listings | Share of all listings |
|---|---|---|
| Open 30 days or less | 2,429,078 | 51.3% |
| Open 31 to 60 days | 1,044,008 | 22.1% |
| Open 61 to 90 days | 248,769 | 5.3% |
| Open more than 90 days | 1,010,441 | 21.4% |
Long-open listings by applicant tracking system
Each share is of the platform’s own open listings.
Long-open listings by platform
| Platform | Open listings | Open more than 60 days | Open more than 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workday | 1,705,882 | 17.2% | 11.8% |
| SmartRecruiters | 1,505,500 | 56.7% | 47.9% |
| Oracle Taleo | 844,317 | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| iCIMS | 366,172 | 0.8% | 0.4% |
| Greenhouse | 151,220 | 32.4% | 26.2% |
| Lever | 55,416 | 47.2% | 40.0% |
| Ashby | 54,740 | 46.6% | 35.9% |
| Jobvite | 31,045 | 4.4% | 0.0% |
| Rippling | 18,004 | 24.5% | 18.9% |
What is a ghost job?
A ghost job is a listing that stays posted although the employer is not actively hiring for it, for example to collect resumes for later, to signal growth or because nobody took it down. No outside data can show an employer's intent, so this study measures what is observable: how long each open listing has been live.
How to tell whether a listing is still hiring
- Check the employer's own career site for the same role and its posting date.
- Look for the same role reposted with a new date.
- Paste the listing link into the free ghost job checker to see whether the employer's posting was still open when we last read it.
- Apply, then follow up once after two to three weeks: how long employers usually take to reply
- Treat listings that ask for payment or financial details as scams, not ghost jobs: how to spot job search scams
Ghost jobs on LinkedIn
This study leaves out LinkedIn: the 63,796 LinkedIn URLs in the catalog are excluded, so its figures describe employers' own application systems. On LinkedIn, an Apply button (unlike Easy Apply) takes you to the company's website or job board.
LinkedIn's help center says a job post stays active until the poster closes it, or for six months, when LinkedIn closes it automatically. A closed job can be reposted only as a new post, and a free job with the same title and company as an earlier post cannot be posted again for free within 7 days. So a listing can stay on LinkedIn for up to six months and then return as a new post.
Ghost jobs on Indeed
Indeed's employer guide says a free job posted directly on Indeed stays live for up to 30 days, and that Indeed does not automatically remove jobs when they are filled: closing them is the employer's responsibility. A paused job is hidden from job seekers while the employer keeps its applicants.
Indeed also shows jobs that reach it from employers' career sites and applicant tracking systems, the systems this study counts, so the most direct test of any listing is the same role on the employer's own site.
Are ghost jobs illegal? Laws and bills as of October 5, 2026
We checked each status on the legislature's or government's own website on October 5, 2026. Only Ontario's rules are in force. This is a summary, not legal advice.
- Ontario, Canada: in force since January 1, 2026. Employers with 25 or more employees must state in every publicly advertised job posting whether it is for an existing vacancy, and must tell interviewed applicants within 45 days of their last interview whether a hiring decision has been made. Job posting platforms must give users a way to report fraudulent postings. The rule does not oblige an employer to fill the vacancy.
- New York: passed by the legislature, not yet law. Senate Bill S8877 (Assembly A6292A) passed the Senate on April 28, 2026 and the Assembly on June 2, 2026. The Senate's bill page does not show it delivered to or signed by the governor. It would require job advertisements to say whether they are for a current vacancy and by when the employer intends to fill it, require removal within two weeks of the position being filled, and fine $2,500 per violation.
- California: held in committee, not law. Assembly Bill 1251 would require private employers to state in a job posting whether it is for a vacancy. It passed the Assembly in 2025 and has been held in the Senate Appropriations Committee since August 29, 2025.
- Pennsylvania: in committee. House Bill 2321 (memo subject: banning ghost job postings) was referred to the House Labor and Industry Committee on March 26, 2026, with no action since.
Sources, checked :
- Ontario: requirements related to publicly advertised job postings
- Ontario Regulation 476/24: rules and exemptions re job postings
- New York State Senate: Senate Bill S8877 (2025-2026)
- California Legislature: AB 1251 bill history
- Pennsylvania General Assembly: House Bill 2321 (2025-2026)
- LinkedIn Help: close a job post on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn Help: free job reposting limitations
- LinkedIn Help: apply for jobs on LinkedIn
- Indeed: managing job post status (close, pause or remove a post)
- Indeed: pricing and free job posts
Methodology and limits
We counted listings marked open in the Applystead job catalog at 23:00 UTC on October 4, 2026, from 9 applicant tracking systems, excluding 63,796 LinkedIn URLs, 2,101,100 listings from other sources and 0 merged duplicates.
A listing's age counts from the day the catalog first recorded it. The catalog has recorded listings since November 29, 2025, and listings that were already open when it began covering an employer count as younger than they are, so the long-open shares are lower bounds.
This is the Applystead catalog, not the whole labor market: employers on other systems are not included.
Common questions
What percentage of job postings are ghost jobs?
No count of ghost jobs can be exact, because a listing does not show whether the employer intends to hire. What can be measured is how long listings stay open: on October 4, 2026, 21.4% of the 4,732,296 open listings in the Applystead job catalog had been live for more than 90 days.
How long do job postings usually stay open?
In the Applystead job catalog on October 4, 2026, 51.3% of open listings had been live for 30 days or less and 26.6% for more than 60 days. Listings stay open until the employer fills or withdraws the role, so long-open listings include both hard-to-fill jobs and listings no one is actively reviewing.
Are there ghost jobs on LinkedIn and Indeed?
This study leaves out LinkedIn, so it does not measure it. LinkedIn closes a job post automatically after six months unless the poster closes it sooner, and Indeed says it does not remove jobs automatically when they are filled, so on both sites a listing can stay visible after hiring has stopped. Check the same role on the employer's own career site.
Are ghost jobs illegal?
Mostly not yet. Of the measures we checked on October 5, 2026, only Ontario's is in force: since January 1, 2026, employers there with 25 or more employees must say whether a public job posting is for an existing vacancy. New York's legislature has passed a disclosure bill that the governor has not signed; bills in California and Pennsylvania have not passed.
Download the data
Every count on this page, with the share it is of, for your own charts and analysis:
More Applystead research
Cite this study
Applystead, “Ghost job statistics 2026: how long job listings stay open”, published October 4, 2026, data captured October 4, 2026. https://applystead.com/blog/ghost-job-statistics-2026
Data license: CC BY 4.0. Reuse it with credit to Applystead and a link to this page.
Journalists and researchers: send questions about the data to support@mail.applystead.com.