But most jobseekers happy about new rules around pay transparency in job postings
More than half of Canadian job seekers suspect they have applied for roles that do not genuinely exist, raising concerns about trust and transparency in recruitment, according to a survey.
Overall, 56% of Canadian workers said they believe they have applied for a “ghost job” – a role advertised without real intent to hire, reports Employment Hero.
Ontario job seekers reported the highest level of concern, with 61% saying they suspect they have applied for a ghost job, compared with 55% in British Columbia and Quebec and 53% in Alberta.
“When candidates are met with silence, unclear pay expectations or roles that may not be real, it creates a trust problem in hiring,” says KJ Lee, CEO of Employment Hero Canada. “This research shows these frustrations aren’t isolated, they’re shaping the job search experience across Canada.”
Nearly half of HR professionals admit they regularly post ghost jobs, according to a previous report.
Ghost jobs and mental health
The Employment Hero report links employer ghosting directly to candidate well‑being and labour‑market participation. It found that 70% of job seekers say being ghosted by an employer – receiving no response after applying or interviewing – impacts their mental health and motivation to continue searching, with 33% describing the impact as significant or severe.
The survey of over 1,000 respondents – conducted January 22‑25, 2026 – also found 78% of job seekers say the challenges of job searching and hiring have discouraged them from looking for a new role in the past.
In their most recent job search, 55% said they found it difficult to locate relevant opportunities that matched their skills and experience.
Transparency and scrutiny
Salary disclosure has become a decisive factor for many Canadians. Employment Hero reported that 64% of respondents have decided not to apply for a job when salary information was not included in the posting.
This shift coincides with new legislation in Ontario that requires employers with 25 or more employees to include salary ranges in job postings and to respond to interviewed candidates within 45 days. The rules, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2026, also require employers to disclose when artificial intelligence is used in hiring.
According to Employment Hero, 54% of Ontario job seekers say they are aware of the new rules, and 20% report they have already noticed changes to job postings since the legislation came into force.
There is also broad support for Ontario’s transparency measures. Among Ontario respondents, 88% believe the laws will be beneficial for job seekers, 83% say they feel proud the province is leading the way, and 62% believe the laws will make a difference for them personally.
However, 95% of Ontario job seekers expect employers to try to find loopholes in the new requirements. Employment Hero noted that 88% believe the rules will help, but the near‑universal expectation of workarounds points to persistent scepticism about employer compliance.
Possible reasons for ghost job postings
Even without the intent to post ghost jobs, many recruiters may be contributing to this phenomenon, warns Hung Lee, curator of the Recruiting Brainfood newsletter and podcast, according to an article published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
He explains that just because the data show that many jobs end up without a hire does not mean they were fake, according to a BBC report. The report points to other possible reasons, such as that these jobs may be reserved for an internal candidate or the recruiter simply neglected to remove the ad after the job had been filled.
“I suspect outdated job listings are one of the main contributors to the ghost job phenomenon,” Lee says. “There is no nefarious intent, but the ad does not come down due to it being duration‑based, which requires the advertiser to manually delete it, which we generally won’t do. So long as job postings are not programmatic and dynamic, then this issue is going to persist.”
