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 major industry sector 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 5.5 million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2009. Since peaking in March 2009 at 7.0 million, job losses at contracting establishments have fallen sharply.
Fourth quarter job gains at expanding establishments were 5.3 million, after reaching a series-low 4.6 million in first quarter 2009.
From September to December 2009 closing establishments lost 1.3 million jobs, a decrease from the previous quarter’s loss of 1.4 million.
Opening establishments gained 1.3 million jobs, an increase from the previous quarter when opening establishments created 1.2 million jobs.
There were 180,000 establishment births in the fourth quarter 2009; these new establishments added 701,000 jobs, essentially unchanged from the previous quarter.
Data for establishment deaths, a subset of the closings data, are available through March 2009, when 891,000 jobs were lost at 240,000 establishments.
The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of -193,000 jobs in the private sector for fourth quarter 2009.
Gross job gains represented 6.3 percent of private sector employment, while gross job losses represented 6.5 percent of private sector employment.
Only the professional and business services sector, which includes temporary help services, experienced a change from net losses in third quarter 2009 to net gains in fourth quarter 2009. Gross job gains in this sector increased to 1.4 million jobs from 1.1 million, while gross job losses decreased to 1.2 million jobs from 1.3 million. The construction sector continues to experience the highest net losses as a percent of total employment. From September to December 2009, job gains increased slightly from 10.4 to 10.7 percent, while job losses fell slightly from 13.7 to 13.5 percent.
The share of total gross job losses at firms with 1 to 249 employees increased from 69.4 percent to 72.3. The share of gross job gains increased at firms with 1 to 4 employees and 1000 or more employees and decreased at all other firm size classes.
In the fourth quarter of 2009, eight states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands experienced changes from negative to positive net employment as compared to the prior quarter. The net employment change turned negative from positive in Indiana and Idaho and remained negative in the rest of states. California and New York experienced the largest net employment gains. Gross job gains in the state of California increased to 843,902, while gross job losses decreased to 820,701. In the state of New York, gross job gains increased to 439,309, while gross job losses decreased to 432,668. From September to December 2009, gross job gains as a percent of total employment decreased in 11 states, and gross job losses as a percent of total employment increased in 13 states.
