When you're ghosted by a match on your dating profile or they are no-show for a date, it can be a difficult pill to swallow. Unfortunately, there's not much your elected officials can do about that.

But in the case of "ghost jobs," where companies post open positions on job boards like LinkedIn and Indeed without the intention of actually filling them right away, lawmakers are working to provide a solution, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

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In New York, legislators have passed a bill in both houses of the state legislature that would require companies to list timelines they expect to hire a candidate on job ads or otherwise have fines levied against them. Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to review the measure when it reaches her desk.

Meanwhile, In Pennsylvania, Rep. Jim Prokopiak introduced a bill in March that, if made law, would require employers to state their hiring intentions and provide a timeline of when job listings will be removed after the job is filled. States like Kentucky, New Jersey, and California are considering similar solutions.

"When people are putting the time and effort into applying, there's a reasonable expectation that there is a job out there," Prokopiak told the Wall Street Journal.

Even job boards themselves are in the crosshairs. In Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, opened an investigation into LinkedIn last month, which he says has advertised and profited from fake job ads. LinkedIn has defended its practices in response, telling the Wall Street Journal that its policies require that posted jobs be "authentic and accurately represented."

In short, "ghost jobs" are very common and have been for a while.

Forty percent of companies surveyed by career site resume builder in 2024 said that they posted a fake job listing that year. Many times, hiring managers were behind them and argued they were beneficial for business. Those same managers said posting fake jobs is "morally acceptable."

Ghost jobs can help companies collect resumes and even hire a candidate that is too good to pass up. However, critics argue that it benefits companies by portraying a false sense of growth and calm to investors and current employees and could even lead jobseekers to lose trust in a company.

The Wall Street Journal also pointed to recent Greenhouse data which found, after analyzing its clients job postings, that 19% of jobs advertised in the second quarter of 2026 showed no meaningful hiring activity after receiving applications. That includes reviewing job-test submissions or scheduling interviews.

That doesn't mean that those jobs were inherently "ghost jobs," but it does indicate how often a job search can remain stagnant. Sometimes, this is for reasons out of a recruiter or hiring manager's control. For instance, budgets may have changed at the eleventh hour, or the company may be reviewing internal candidates.

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In some ways, "ghost jobs" are so prevalent because of how impersonal the online job-hunting process is today. It's a familiar one for anyone who has spent time looking for work in the past couple of years.

You find a job opening that you believe you're qualified for, customize your resume and cover letter to fit the job description, hit submit and then hope for the best. Then you wait, but nothing happens, not even a rejection email. Weeks, or even months later, you see the same job posted again.

Someone currently living this reality is Heather Sanford, a 44-year old marketing professional and active jobseeker. She told the Wall Street Journal that she's applied to more than 3,000 jobs since her last contract role ended in May 2025.

She checks LinkedIn and other job boards regularly and applies to anything in her field or fields where her skills would be a good fit. In many cases, she doesn't get a response and then sees the same job post show up again.

"If you've posted a job and you have 500 applicants, are you telling me not one or two or three are qualified?" she said. "Are you looking for a unicorn? Or is it not a real job?"

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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: 40% of companies posted fake job listings in 2024 — now lawmakers in multiple states are moving to ban them

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