Job seekers attend the Mega JobNewsUSA South Florida Job Fair at Amerant Bank Arena on September 25, 2025 in Sunrise, Florida.
Joe Radle | Getty Images
Judging by current data, it would appear that there is a job for literally anyone who wants it. However, a deeper look under the hood reveals a different story.
The level of job openings reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics over the years indicates that there are at least as many jobs available as there are unemployed people.
However, if you compare the number of job openings with the actual hiring situation, you will find that not all job openings are filled.
In fact, it’s not even close. Since the beginning of 2024, job openings have exceeded hiring by more than 2.2 million people per month, according to BLS data. This shows that the problem of “ghost job openings” that never get filled continues.
“The U.S. labor market looks deceptively strong on paper. Millions of job openings suggest opportunity, but much of it is illusory,” said Jasmine Escalera, career expert at employment support platform MyPerfectResume, which released a report on the shadow job market this week. “The ghost jobs economy inflates hopes, wastes job seekers’ time, and clouds the data policymakers rely on to steer the economy.”
The number of job openings has generally been on the decline since peaking at more than 12 million people in March 2022, when job openings outnumbered available workers by more than 2 to 1. In August, the most recent month for which data is available due to the government shutdown, job openings totaled more than 7.2 million, but only 5.1 million people were employed. The ratio of vacancies to employees was approximately equal.
Admittedly, the situation is not as simple as comparing two numbers.
The number of jobs represents the total inventory of jobs, and the number of hires represents the flow of people hired in a particular month. As a result, jobs may remain unfilled and posted for multiple months, but this does not necessarily mean that the company advertising the job has no intention of hiring.
latent stock
Additionally, some companies may post job openings solely to maintain an inventory of potential workers for future positions.
Finally, the job-to-applicant ratio has been declining over the past few years, from 1.8:1 at the peak of the recruitment cycle to current levels of approximately 1.4:1, indicating that there are fewer “ghost jobs” in the world.
One issue contributing to this gap is the changing demographics of the workforce as the United States tightens immigration standards.
Small business owners report they are having the hardest time filling open positions since the coronavirus pandemic, while 88% of job seekers lack the necessary skills, according to a Tuesday report from the National Federation of Independent Business.
But the issue has received more serious attention in recent months as the labor market has begun to ease and net employment has slowed to record levels. At the same time, official government data is unavailable due to the shutdown in Washington, DC.
Job seekers are frustrated by their inability to find new jobs. Liquidity has slowed, and the “retirement rate” has fallen by more than 30% since March 2022, when the number of job openings peaked during a period known as the “Great Retirement.”
A Change.org petition calling for a crackdown on companies advertising ghost jobs has garnered nearly 50,000 signatures.
The real impact is at the policy level. Federal Reserve officials closely monitor BLS job numbers for clues about how tight the labor market is, so unreliable data clouds their vision.
“For job seekers, it means a waste of time. For policymakers, it means distorted data. For employers, it creates serious credibility issues,” Escalera said. “Unless postings more accurately reflect actual employment, workers will continue to chase jobs that don’t exist and confidence in the labor market will erode.”
