Ghost growth in the US: When career advancement becomes a performance, not a promise

Career growth is supposed to feel like momentum. A sense that effort compounds, that responsibility brings reward, and that time invested moves you forward. Yet for millions of workers across the US, growth has become something else entirely, a performance staged by employers, convincing on the surface, hollow underneath.

A new survey by MyPerfectResume puts a name to this unease: Ghost growth. It is the appearance of advancement without its substance, more duties, broader expectations, grander titles, but no raise, no promotion, and no real shift in power or pay. According to the survey of 1,000 currently employed US adults, conducted in August 2025, 65 percent say they have experienced this illusion firsthand. The data does not describe ambition gone wrong. It describes trust wearing thin.

The rise of “growth theatre”

On paper, many workers look like they are moving up. In reality, they feel stuck. Fifty-three percent of respondents said their careers appear to be progressing, but they do not feel that way. Two-thirds believe their employers engage in what they describe as “growth theater,” highly visible gestures of support that rarely translate into tangible outcomes.

Performance reviews praise “stretch.” Managers encourage patience. New responsibilities arrive framed as opportunity. But nearly half of workers say they have hit a career plateau that their company is trying to disguise with superficial development. The message employees hear, even if it is never said aloud, is simple: do more, wait longer.

More responsibility, same return

The imbalance is stark. Seventy-eight per cent of workers reported being assigned new duties without a raise or promotion. Only 15 per cent said they received pay in the past year that genuinely reflected their expanded role. More than a third said they have never been properly compensated for increased workload.

Perhaps most corrosive is the broken promise. Fifty-three per cent said they were offered promotions or opportunities that never materialised.

Over time, this gap between expectation and reality reshapes how employees see their workplace. Extra effort no longer signals ambition; it feels like a gamble, one that rarely pays out.

The emotional toll of stalled progress

Ghost growth does not just stall careers; it seeps into how people feel about themselves. Workers described frustration, burnout, disengagement, even a sense of entrapment. Some internalised the stagnation as personal failure, despite doing everything asked of them.

That is where the damage deepens. When effort goes unrewarded repeatedly, doubt replaces motivation. Overwork becomes a default. Burnout stops being a risk and starts being routine.

For 16 per cent, the experience triggered job hunting. For others, it produced a quieter resignation, showing up, doing the work, but no longer believing it will lead anywhere.

Why performative growth drives attrition

The survey suggests employers may be misreading loyalty. Sixty-eight per cent of workers said they have considered quitting because of fake or performative growth, such as a promotion without a raise. More than a quarter actually left a job for that reason. Others stayed, but only out of hope or necessity, not commitment.

Some took on extra work believing it would finally unlock advancement. It did not. Many described the experience as deeply disappointing.

The irony is hard to miss. Development is often used as a retention strategy. When it lacks follow-through, it becomes the very reason people leave.

The pressure to look like you’re moving up

Adding to the strain is a cultural expectation that stagnation equals failure. More than half of workers said they feel pressure to appear as though they are growing, even when they are not. That pressure comes from employers, peers, and social media alike.

In a professional culture obsessed with momentum, standing still, even involuntarily, feels shameful. Workers polish titles, inflate responsibilities, and carry on the performance. Meanwhile, the underlying reality remains unchanged.

What real growth would actually mean

When asked what meaningful advancement looks like, workers were clear and pragmatic. They want higher pay, better work-life balance, clear promotion paths, leadership opportunities, and skills that lead somewhere. Very few believed autonomy alone was enough.

They know the difference between progress and pageantry. A new title without a raise does not feel like growth. It feels like camouflage.

A reckoning employers cannot postpone

Ghost growth is not a morale issue to be managed with better messaging. It is a structural failure, one that erodes trust slowly but relentlessly. When advancement becomes symbolic rather than substantive, employees stop believing in the system meant to reward them.

The MyPerfectResume survey makes one thing unmistakable: workers see through the performance. And when growth is staged rather than delivered, it does not inspire loyalty. it accelerates exits.

If employers want people to stay, they will have to do more than talk about development. They will have to prove it exists.
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