Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, REPORTS—Ghost job postings are common, but protections for job seekers remain nearly nonexistent, (May 9, 2025)

By Patricia K. Ruiz, J.D.

No bills have been introduced in Congress addressing ghost job postings, CRS explained.

A release by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) details so-called ghost job postings, or online job postings for positions that do not exist or that employers are not planning to fill immediately. CRS noted that a decline in job postings in recent years may exacerbate job seekers’ concerns over ghost job postings.

Reasons for ghost postings. CRS explained that ghost job postings can appear for a number of reasons. For example, employers may use these postings to: (1) evaluate the potential pool of candidates for future job postings or collect resumes for hiring at a later time; (2) suggest they are growing—either to signal to existing employees that they are replaceable, that their workload may soon be more widely shared, or to attract potential investors; (3) demonstrate that they have recruited a diverse pool of applicants, even though they plan to hire an internal candidate; or (4) look for extraordinary potential employees. Employers may even interview applicants while having no intention to hire anyone. However, CRS said, some ghost job postings are not deliberate, as circumstances may change that alter the employers’ intent to hire. Further, online job boards may automatically copy postings from other websites, and employers may remove the posting from one website, not knowing the post was copied elsewhere.

Protections for job seekers. Deceptive job advertisements may violate federal consumer protection laws, CRS explained. Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce.” The FTC has enforced this provision against deceptive representations regarding money-making schemes and has acted against scams based on fake job placement services. The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network database shows that job and employment agency scams have nearly tripled from 2020 to 2024.

However, extending FTC enforcement to ghost jobs would likely present legal challenges, CRS noted, as elements such as an employer’s intent to hire for a given position or harm to consumers from ghost job postings are not easily discoverable. Currently, no bills explicitly addressing ghost job postings have been introduced in Congress, though at least three states and Canada have proposed related legislation.

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