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 5.2 million jobs in the third quarter of 2010, reversing a downward trend in this series that began in June 2009.
Job gains at expanding establishments fell to 5.4 million in the third quarter 2010 after rising in the second quarter.
From June 2010 to September 2010 closing establishments lost 1.2 million jobs, an increase from the previous quarter’s loss of 1.1 million.
Opening establishments gained 1.2 million jobs in the third quarter 2010, a decrease from the previous quarter when opening establishments created 1.3 million jobs.
In third quarter 2010, the number of establishment births rose by 10,000 to 182,000. These new establishments accounted for 714,000 jobs, an increase of 16,000 from the previous quarter.
Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through December 2009, when 745,000 jobs were lost at 200,000 establishments.
The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of 151,000 jobs in the private sector for third quarter 2010.
Gross job gains represented 6.2 percent of private sector employment in third quarter 2010, while gross job losses represented 6.0 percent of private sector employment.
The financial activities, utilities, construction, retail trade, information, and other services sectors posted net decreases in employment during third quarter 2010. Gross job gains in the service-providing sector decreased from 5,474,000 in June 2010 to 5,233,000 in September 2010. The retail trade sector experienced a drop in employment with a net decrease of 96,000 as a result of smaller gross job gains (788,000) and larger gross job losses (884,000). This net decrease in employment was notable after this sector recorded a net increase of 123,000 in June 2010. The manufacturing sector has recorded two consecutive quarters of net employment increases after 15 consecutive quarters of net decreases from third quarter 2006 to first quarter 2010.
Firms with less than 50 employees had a net loss of 28,000 jobs, while firms with 50 to 249 employees and firms with 250 or more employees had net gains of 64,000 and 85,000 jobs respectively.
