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Ghost jobs in European tech

45% of open tech jobs in Europe were posted more than 60 days ago, and 26% more than four months ago. We read 1,249 companies’ own hiring systems every hour, so we know when a posting went up, when it came down, and when the same role went up again.

Out of 6,374 open tech jobs at 392 companies in Europe, as of 6 October 2026. Updated every hour.

What a ghost job is, and what this measures

A ghost job is a posting for a role nobody is hiring for: left up after the role was filled, kept up to collect résumés, or put up to look busy. From the outside it looks exactly like a role that is simply hard to fill, or one a company hires for all year. So we do not call any single posting a ghost. We measure what can be measured: how long postings stay up, and how often the same role comes down and goes up again. A job that has been open for months is not always a ghost, but it is the place to look first, and the age is the one fact a job board does not show you.

By technology

By country

Posted again

In the last 30 days, 15 tech jobs in Europe went up at 6 companies under the exact title of a posting the same company had taken down before. Some will be a role that was filled and opened again; some may be the same posting taken down and put back up, which makes it look new on the boards that sort by date.

How long a job stays up

Of the 411 tech jobs in Europe that came down in the last 30 days, the median one had been up for 29 days. Half the jobs that close are gone within about 4 weeks. A posting several times that age is not typical.

How we count

• Open tech jobs in Europe. Postings that are up now on the boards of the companies we read, in the EU, the UK, Switzerland, Norway and the Balkans, whose text names a technology. Sales, finance and warehouse roles at the same companies are left out.
• Age. The company’s own posting date where its board gives one, otherwise the hour we first saw the job. Our record starts on 19 September 2026, so a job that was already up then counts from that day: the ages lean young, never old.
• Came down. We read every board every hour. A job is down when its board no longer lists it, or when we have not seen it for three days.
• Posted again. A job first seen in the last 30 days whose title, letter for letter, matches a job at the same company that had come down before it appeared.

Quoting these numbers? Please cite “Sottava, Ghost jobs in European tech, October 2026” and link to sottava.com/reports/ghost-jobs. Each company’s own figures are on its page in the company list.