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Exposing companies that post phantom job openings to signal growth to investors — while simultaneously laying off workers.
The Ghost Score estimates the probability (0–100) that a company's job postings are "phantom" or "ghost" jobs — listings posted not to fill real positions, but to project an image of growth and health to investors, analysts, and the public. A high score doesn't prove fraud; it flags patterns worth investigating.
No suspicious patterns detected. Job postings appear to reflect genuine hiring activity consistent with the company's financial position and growth trajectory.
Minor anomalies detected but likely explained by normal business cycles, seasonal hiring, or organizational restructuring. Posting patterns are mostly consistent.
Multiple signals suggest some postings may not represent genuine openings. Could indicate a mix of real hiring and "window dressing" for investor perception.
Strong indicators of phantom postings. Company is likely posting positions while simultaneously reducing headcount, with stale listings and suspicious patterns across job boards.
Overwhelming evidence of phantom job postings. Company shows massive layoffs concurrent with growing position counts, stale listings unchanged for months, and significant discrepancies across sources.
Cross-references with our AI Layoffs Tracker. ResumeBuilder (2024) found 66% of companies post ghost jobs to "project growth optics." The strongest signal is posting positions while simultaneously laying off workers. Scored by the ratio of open positions to layoffs.
Compares a company's open position count against its industry median for Fortune 500 companies. StandOut CV found a 34.4% ghost job rate across categories. Companies with outlier-high posting volumes relative to peers are more likely padding listings for optics.
Clarify Capital found 68% of ghost job employers had postings active 30+ days, and 1 in 10 had postings open 6+ months. Ashby's ATS analysis of 22,000+ jobs showed genuine roles have recruiter activity within 14 days. We measure whether total position counts remain flat over time — unchanging counts suggest listings are never being filled.
Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS data shows job openings exceed actual hires by 28–38% monthly since 2021. Singer & Oktay's NABE award-winning paper "Ghost jobs, real costs" (Business Economics, 2025) used this "phantom gap" as a core signal. We estimate each company's phantom positions using sector-specific openings-to-hires ratios.
ResumeBuilder found 67% of companies post ghost jobs to "appear open to external talent." Sudden bulk posting of positions (50%+ increase in 30 days) without a corresponding business expansion announcement is suspicious. Real hiring ramps tend to be gradual.
Clarify Capital identified perpetual reposting as a key indicator. Ashby's ATS data showed roles that oscillate (open/close/reopen) without net headcount change are likely decorative. We detect this by measuring direction changes in position counts relative to net change.
Multiple independent studies converge on an estimate that 20–35% of active job listings are ghost jobs at any given time:
Notably, 7 in 10 hiring managers told ResumeBuilder they consider posting fake jobs "morally acceptable."
This tracker uses automated scraping and research-backed heuristic analysis to estimate the likelihood of "ghost" or "phantom" job postings. Ghost Scores are probabilistic estimates based on published research, not definitive proof. Companies may have legitimate reasons for posting positions during restructuring, including hiring for new roles while eliminating others. Some industries naturally maintain large numbers of open positions. This tool is intended for research and transparency purposes. Data is scraped from public job boards and may contain inaccuracies. Always verify findings with primary sources before drawing conclusions. Research sources are cited in the methodology section above.