Don't fall for 'ghost jobs,' the fake or useless job ads that waste your time (mashable.com)

"Of those surveyed, 43 percent of managers said they post job openings online in order to give the impression that the company is growing. Another 43 percent said that they posted job openings to keep current employees motivated. And 34 percent took that one step further and said they kept online job posts active in order to placate overworked employees.

So basically, nearly half of the hiring managers surveyed said that their company posted jobs with the intent to bolster their company's image, or provide false hope to their understaffed workforce that help was on the way."

[dead]

My experience as an IT contractor is that multiple recruiting agencies will list the same position. Which in turn gives the impression of far more jobs than is the case. Then the media reports the total number of job ads implying that there is a massive shortfall in suitable staff.