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 5.2 million jobs in the first quarter of 2010. This is the smallest number of jobs lost at contracting establishments since June 1993.
First quarter job gains at expanding establishments fell to 5.0 million. The drop reversed an upward trend in the series that began in March 2009.
From December 2009 to March 2010 closing establishments lost 1.2 million jobs, a decrease from the previous quarter’s loss of 1.3 million.
Opening establishments gained 1.1 million jobs, also a decrease from the previous quarter when opening establishments created 1.3 million jobs.
In first quarter 2010 there were 172,000 establishment births; these new establishments added 661,000 jobs.
Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through June 2009, when 831,000 jobs were lost at 226,000 establishments.
The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of -311,000 jobs in the private sector for first quarter 2010.
Gross job gains represented 5.8 percent of private sector employment in first quarter 2010, while gross job losses represented6.1 percent of private sector employment.
The education and health services sector was the only sector that had a net increase in employment in first quarter 2010. Gross job gains in the service-providing sectors fell from 5,349,000 in December 2009 to 4,844,000 in March 2010. The construction sector continues to experience the highest net losses as a percent of total employment. From December 2009 to March 2010, the rate of gross job gains decreased slightly from 10.9 to 10.7 percent, while the rate of gross job losses showed a larger decline from 13.6 to 13.1 percent.
The share of total gross job gains at firms with 1 to 249 employees increased from 72.0 percent to 74.2 percent. The share of gross job losses decreased at firms with 50 or more employees and increased at firms with 1 to 49 employees.
In first quarter 2010, fifteen states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands experienced a positive net change in employment, an increase from eight states in the prior quarter. Texas had the largest net gain in employment, which can be attributed to a sharp decline in gross job losses from 484,059 in December 2009 to 434,114 in March 2010. New York and New Jersey experienced their lowest levels of gross job losses for the series in first quarter 2010 at 390,777 and 193,790, respectively. However, both states experienced net employment losses of about 17,500 due to declines in gross job gains. From December 2009 to March 2010, gross job losses as a percent of total employment decreased or remained unchanged at 48 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. Connecticut and South Dakota were the only states to show increases.
