The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private business units from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing units and the addition of new jobs at opening units. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing units and the loss of jobs at closing units. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment.
The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses at the establishment level by industry subsector and for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, as well as gross job gains and gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class.
Contracting establishments lost 5.1 million jobs in the second quarter of 2010. This is the smallest number of jobs lost at contracting establishments since the series began in September 1992.
Second quarter job gains at expanding establishments rose to 5.7 million after falling slightly in March 2010. Job gains at expanding establishments have increased in four of the last five quarters.
From March to June 2010 closing establishments lost 1.1 million jobs, a decrease from the previous quarter’s loss of 1.2 million.
Opening establishments gained 1.3 million jobs, an increase from the previous quarter when opening establishments created 1.1 million jobs.
In second quarter 2010 there were 172,000 establishment births (a subset of the openings data); these new establishments added 698,000 jobs.
Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through September 2009, when 793,000 jobs were lost at 216,000 establishments.
The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of 728,000 jobs in the private sector for second quarter 2010.
Gross job gains represented 6.6 percent of private sector employment in second quarter 2010, while gross job losses represented 5.9 percent of private sector employment.
The financial activities, utilities, and information sectors were the only sectors to post a net decrease in employment during second quarter 2010. The construction sector was slightly positive in second quarter 2010 with a net employment change of 1,000. This is the first positive net employment change for this industry since March 2007.
From March to June 2010 firms with 1-49 employees experienced a decrease in their share of total gross job gains from 56.2 percent to 52.8 percent, while firms with 250 or more employees experienced an increase in their share of gross job gains from 25.8 percent to 28.5 percent.
In the second quarter of 2010 six states experienced a negative net change in employment, a decrease from 35 states in the previous quarter. California had the largest net gain in employment, which can be attributed to a sharp increase in gross job gains from 759,025 in March 2010 to 877,920 in June 2010. California and Michigan experienced their lowest levels of gross job losses (775,156 and 184,025, respectively) since the series began in third quarter 1992. From March to June 2010, gross job gains as a percent of total employment increased or remained unchanged in 49 states and the District of Columbia. Hawaii was the only state to show a decrease in gross job gains.
