Recent industry reports reveal a rise in “ghost jobs” – job postings that appear to be genuine employment opportunities designed to attract applicants but remain open indefinitely because employers have no intention of filling them. It is estimated that an alarming 70% of current job advertisements fall into this category.

This trend is not widespread in a particular industry, but research shows that this occurrence is more prevalent in the technology and consulting sectors. Research shows that ghost jobs in the consulting industry are at a record high in the second quarter of 2024.

The situation creates emotional disturbance and anxiety among job seekers, leading to demoralization and frustration. Searching and applying for jobs is a job in itself. It takes a lot of time because it involves preparing detailed job-specific documentation. After applying, the job seeker either receives a rejection or has not yet received a response, even after months of waiting.

Due to the great resignation and financial uncertainty after the pandemic, ghost jobs have increased. This corporate practice inflates the actual number of jobs in the labor market and prolongs the job search, leading to job search burnout.

Ghost jobs have significant negative consequences for the labor market and jobseekers: They inflate unemployment rates, waste valuable jobseeker time searching for vacancies that don’t exist, and cause jobseekers to face the psychological trauma of repeated rejections or no response. .

The very transparency of the labor market is threatened. A deeper look at the companies’ perspective on such job advertisements reveals their hidden agenda which is disturbing and unjustifiable. Some reasons behind this company listing of ghost jobs are access to market pulse, building a talent pool for the future, maintaining an appearance of growth, maintaining an image of prosperity, a slowdown in the economy, making the company look stable during the hiring freeze. , test a job description.

Additionally, these lists may arise from internal mismanagement or miscommunication within the company.

The existence of ghost jobs has also caught the eye of the government. Although at the moment there are no specific laws in any country against ghost advertising, if the situation escalates, the regulatory bodies may become involved, leading to certain actions that require corporate responsibility.

According to a CNBC report in 2024, four out of ten companies post fake job ads with no intention of hiring. Another research report says that 81% of recruiters have posted fake job ads for positions already filled and positions they have no intention of hiring.

In the digital information age where transparency is of the utmost importance, the rise of ghost jobs, regardless of the companies’ short-term reasons, is unjustified and will lead to more significant and deeper consequences on the labor market and job search burnout among applicants.

According to the International Labor Organization, world unemployment is at 4.9% in 2024 and is expected to remain unchanged in 2025. Ghost jobs will distort unemployment statistics and, more importantly, erode confidence in the labor market, job advertising and hiring processes. This will also lead to skewed labor market trends and statistics, leading to incorrect decision making by economists and policy makers.

The impact of ghost jobs on global unemployment is still ongoing. These companies’ exploitative practices can disrupt the labor market and create job seeker burnout globally. Companies’ job advertisements should reflect genuine employment requirements and intentions.

Job seekers also need to be more careful in assessing the authenticity of a job advertisement, and policy makers need to act quickly to prevent the proliferation of ghost jobs.

Dr Mythili Kolluru

The author is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing and Management at the College of Banking and Financial Studies in Muscat.