The Ghost Jobs Report for September 2026 found that 28.3% of dated open job postings had been live for more than 90 days. This figure comes from a sweep of 607,050 postings across 15 applicant‑tracking systems, where the employer’s publish date was available for 95.0% of listings. The median age of an open posting was 36 days, meaning half of the catalog was newer than that. In absolute terms, 163,057 postings exceeded the 90‑day threshold, and 94,106 of those had been open for over 180 days. The report breaks the open‑posting age distribution into bands: 45.1% were under 30 days, 17.1% fell between 30 and 60 days, 9.5% between 60 and 90 days, 12.0% between 90 and 180 days, and 16.3% exceeded 180 days. By sector, hospitality had the highest share of stale postings at 43.9%, with a median age of 65 days. Education followed at 37.4% (median 56 days), while healthcare turned over fastest at 19.7% (median 29 days). Other categories showed intermediate rates, ranging from 35.3% in the “Other” bucket to 20.1% in retail. When examined by applicant‑tracking system, Lever boards carried the largest stale share at 48.2% (median age 83 days), BambooHR at 47.9% (79 days), and Recruitee at 45.3% (82 days). Workday showed the smallest proportion at 17.2% (median 26 days). Systems that do not publish a posting date—Pinpoint, Personio, and Y Combinator—were excluded from age calculations. Country‑level data for the fifteen nations with the most openings revealed that Sweden had the highest stale share at 40.9% (median 51 days), followed by the Netherlands at 39.2% (64 days) and Spain at 34.3% (50 days). The United States posted a 26.2% stale share (median 34 days) with salary information present in half of its listings. The report also looked at closures: of the 88,895 postings removed in the last 30 days, 14.6% disappeared within a week of publishing. The median time from publishing to removal for closures in the last 90 days was 24 days, noted as a lower bound because the observation window was only 29 days. Reposting activity was modest, with 4.2% of closed postings reappearing within 30 days as the same employer and role. All figures are drawn directly from the report’s tables and summaries.
Key facts
- 28.3% of dated open job postings exceeded 90 days (163,057 postings)
- Median age of an open posting: 36 days
- Hospitality sector: 43.9% of postings >90 days, median 65 days
- Healthcare sector: 19.7% of postings >90 days, median 29 days
- Lever ATS: 48.2% of postings >90 days, median 83 days
- Workday ATS: 17.2% of postings >90 days, median 26 days
- Sweden: 40.9% of postings >90 days, median 51 days
- United States: 26.2% of postings >90 days, median 34 days
- Closures: 14.6% of removals in last 30 days occurred within a week
- Re‑postings: 4.2% of closed postings reappeared within 30 days