From March 2015 to June 2015 gross job gains in Nebraska totaled 47,109, while gross job losses numbered 45,472, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 1,637. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 3,355.

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 establishments 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 establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Technical Note for more information.).

The 47,109 gross job gains in June 2015 followed the 48,584 gross job gains in March 2015. Nebraska’s gross job gains have remained above 45,000 each quarter since June 2013. Gross job losses in June 2015 totaled 45,472 in the state, the 13^th consecutive quarter in which job losses have been above 40,000. (See chart 1.)

Gross job gains represented 5.9 percent of private sector employment in Nebraska in the quarter ended June 2015, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.4 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) Since the series inception in 1992, the rate of gross job gains in Nebraska has been generally below the U.S. rate each quarter. Gross job losses accounted for 5.7 percent of private sector employment in Nebraska in the quarter ended June 2015, matching the national rate of gross job losses. Since the series began, Nebraska’s rate of gross job losses has been at or below the national rate, with only two exceptions.

During the second quarter of 2015, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in seven industry sectors in Nebraska. For example, within professional and business services, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 1,472. While almost 7,000 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the industry, more than 8,000 jobs were created by opening and expanding establishments in the 3-months ended in June 2015. In transportation and warehousing, approximately 2,000 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and more than 1,500 jobs lost in closing and contracting establishments. (See table 1.)

In contrast, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in three industry sectors. Within manufacturing, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 895. In the two remaining sectors—education and health services and other services—gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 292 and 22, respectively.

Nebraska was among the seven states in the West North Central Census division. Six states in the division, including Nebraska, had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. In North Dakota, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains. (See table A.) Nebraska was among the six states where the rates of gross job gains were lower than the 6.4-percent national rate. Only North Dakota had a rate of gross job gains that was higher than the national rate. Two states (Minnesota and Missouri) had rates of gross job losses that were below the 5.7-percent national rate. Four states (Iowa, Kansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota) had rates of gross job losses that were higher than the national rate. Nebraska had a rate of gross job losses that was equal to the national rate.

Table A. Private sector gross job gains and losses for the United States, West North Central Division, and West North Central states, June 2015, seasonally adjusted

Area	Gross job gains		Gross job losses		Net change	Net change as a percent of total employment
	Total	As a percent of total employment	Total	As a percent of total employment
United States	7,554,000	6.4	6,725,000	5.7	829,000	0.7
West North Central (1)	523,799	—	491,650	—	32,149	—
Iowa	77,630	6.1	76,474	5.9	1,156	0.2
Kansas	66,653	6.0	64,933	5.8	1,720	0.2
Minnesota	147,427	6.1	122,494	5.2	24,933	0.9
Missouri	138,623	6.0	119,969	5.2	18,654	0.8
Nebraska	47,109	5.9	45,472	5.7	1,637	0.2
North Dakota	24,976	6.7	41,954	11.3	-16,978	-4.6
South Dakota	21,381	6.3	20,354	5.9	1,027	0.4
Footnotes: (1) Data were calculated for this release using published gross job gains and gross job losses for states located in the West North Central Census Division.
Note: Dash indicates data not available.

Additional statistics and other information

BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. For more information on the Business Employment Dynamics data, visit the BED web site at www.bls.gov/bdm/.

The Business Employment Dynamics for Third Quarter 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

Technical Note

The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or the ES-202 program. The BED data are compiled from existing QCEW records. The QCEW reports are sent by the State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) to BLS and form the basis of the Bureau’s QCEW program and establishment universe sampling frame. These reports are also used to produce the QCEW data on total employment and wages. Other important Bureau uses of the QCEW reports are in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES program produces monthly estimates of employment, net changes, and earnings by detailed industry.

In the BED program, the QCEW records are linked across quarters to provide a longitudinal history for each establishment. The linkage process allows the tracking of net employment changes at the establishment level, which in turn allows the estimation of jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments and jobs lost at closing and contracting establishments.

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. BED statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments 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 establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.

Gross job gains and gross job losses are expressed as rates by dividing their levels by the average of employment in the current and previous quarters. The rates are calculated for the components of gross job gains and gross job losses and then summed to form their respective totals. These rates can be added and subtracted just as their levels can. For instance, the difference between the gross job gains rate and the gross job losses rate is the net growth rate.

The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:

Openings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment for the second time in the current quarter, with no links to the prior quarter, or with positive third month employment in the current quarter following zero employment in the previous quarter.

Expansions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net increase in employment over this period.

Closings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment in the previous quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current quarter.

Contractions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment over this period.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339

Table 1. Private sector gross job gains and losses by industry, Nebraska, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains and job losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	47,397	47,321	49,553	48,584	47,109	6.1	6.0	6.2	6.1	5.9
At expanding establishments	38,945	38,512	41,281	39,706	38,892	5.0	4.9	5.2	5.0	4.9
At opening establishments	8,452	8,809	8,272	8,878	8,217	1.1	1.1	1.0	1.1	1.0
Gross job losses	46,101	45,012	43,949	45,229	45,472	5.9	5.7	5.6	5.6	5.7
At contracting establishments	37,276	37,267	35,648	37,717	37,141	4.8	4.7	4.5	4.7	4.7
At closing establishments	8,825	7,745	8,301	7,512	8,331	1.1	1.0	1.1	0.9	1.0
Net employment change (2)	1,296	2,309	5,604	3,355	1,637	0.2	0.3	0.6	0.5	0.2
Construction
Gross job gains	5,177	5,017	5,624	5,548	4,811	11.4	10.9	11.9	11.5	9.9
At expanding establishments	4,099	3,948	4,661	4,592	3,790	9.0	8.6	9.9	9.5	7.8
At opening establishments	1,078	1,069	963	956	1,021	2.4	2.3	2.0	2.0	2.1
Gross job losses	4,169	4,705	4,428	4,522	4,561	9.2	10.3	9.4	9.3	9.4
At contracting establishments	3,181	3,933	3,523	3,592	3,743	7.0	8.6	7.5	7.4	7.7
At closing establishments	988	772	905	930	818	2.2	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.7
Net employment change (2)	1,008	312	1,196	1,026	250	2.2	0.6	2.5	2.2	0.5
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	2,584	2,773	2,659	2,468	2,350	2.6	2.9	2.7	2.5	2.4
At expanding establishments	2,461	2,614	2,548	2,365	2,250	2.5	2.7	2.6	2.4	2.3
At opening establishments	123	159	111	103	100	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Gross job losses	2,508	2,410	2,569	2,291	3,245	2.6	2.4	2.7	2.3	3.3
At contracting establishments	2,246	2,276	2,301	2,078	2,868	2.3	2.3	2.4	2.1	2.9
At closing establishments	262	134	268	213	377	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.4
Net employment change (2)	76	363	90	177	-895	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.2	-0.9
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	2,491	2,061	2,299	2,119	2,420	5.7	4.8	5.4	5.0	5.7
At expanding establishments	2,085	1,688	1,923	1,732	1,968	4.8	3.9	4.5	4.1	4.6
At opening establishments	406	373	376	387	452	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	1.1
Gross job losses	2,126	2,526	2,024	2,412	2,389	5.0	5.8	4.7	5.6	5.6
At contracting establishments	1,706	1,908	1,769	2,059	1,840	4.0	4.4	4.1	4.8	4.3
At closing establishments	420	618	255	353	549	1.0	1.4	0.6	0.8	1.3
Net employment change (2)	365	-465	275	-293	31	0.7	-1.0	0.7	-0.6	0.1
Retail trade
Gross job gains	7,015	6,303	6,375	6,772	6,945	6.5	5.8	5.9	6.2	6.3
At expanding establishments	6,161	5,459	5,693	5,837	6,440	5.7	5.0	5.3	5.3	5.8
At opening establishments	854	844	682	935	505	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.9	0.5
Gross job losses	6,266	6,397	6,137	5,879	6,477	5.8	5.8	5.7	5.4	5.8
At contracting establishments	5,647	5,585	5,516	5,142	5,323	5.2	5.1	5.1	4.7	4.8
At closing establishments	619	812	621	737	1,154	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.7	1.0
Net employment change (2)	749	-94	238	893	468	0.7	0.0	0.2	0.8	0.5
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	1,740	1,874	3,474	1,698	2,102	4.4	4.8	8.5	4.2	5.3
At expanding establishments	1,478	1,652	3,170	1,420	1,877	3.7	4.2	7.8	3.5	4.7
At opening establishments	262	222	304	278	225	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6
Gross job losses	1,815	1,766	1,499	2,890	1,596	4.5	4.5	3.6	7.0	4.0
At contracting establishments	1,524	1,508	1,277	2,674	1,432	3.8	3.8	3.1	6.5	3.6
At closing establishments	291	258	222	216	164	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.4
Net employment change (2)	-75	108	1,975	-1,192	506	-0.1	0.3	4.9	-2.8	1.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	2,667	2,719	2,511	2,488	2,562	4.3	4.2	4.0	3.9	4.0
At expanding establishments	2,191	2,182	1,903	2,082	2,150	3.5	3.4	3.0	3.3	3.4
At opening establishments	476	537	608	406	412	0.8	0.8	1.0	0.6	0.6
Gross job losses	2,463	2,166	2,250	2,200	2,191	3.9	3.5	3.5	3.4	3.5
At contracting establishments	1,768	1,750	1,780	1,694	1,649	2.8	2.8	2.8	2.6	2.6
At closing establishments	695	416	470	506	542	1.1	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	204	553	261	288	371	0.4	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.5
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	8,122	7,683	7,790	7,867	8,403	7.2	6.8	6.8	6.9	7.2
At expanding establishments	6,748	6,260	6,278	6,502	6,643	6.0	5.5	5.5	5.7	5.7
At opening establishments	1,374	1,423	1,512	1,365	1,760	1.2	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.5
Gross job losses	8,408	7,736	7,859	7,394	6,931	7.4	6.9	7.0	6.4	5.9
At contracting establishments	6,924	6,312	6,401	6,010	5,848	6.1	5.6	5.7	5.2	5.0
At closing establishments	1,484	1,424	1,458	1,384	1,083	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.2	0.9
Net employment change (2)	-286	-53	-69	473	1,472	-0.2	-0.1	-0.2	0.5	1.3
Education and health services
Gross job gains	5,830	7,102	7,382	6,570	5,818	4.5	5.4	5.6	5.0	4.4
At expanding establishments	4,262	5,355	5,762	4,916	4,380	3.3	4.1	4.4	3.7	3.3
At opening establishments	1,568	1,747	1,620	1,654	1,438	1.2	1.3	1.2	1.3	1.1
Gross job losses	6,562	5,888	6,185	6,542	6,110	5.0	4.5	4.7	5.0	4.7
At contracting establishments	5,214	4,303	4,224	5,245	4,522	4.0	3.3	3.2	4.0	3.5
At closing establishments	1,348	1,585	1,961	1,297	1,588	1.0	1.2	1.5	1.0	1.2
Net employment change (2)	-732	1,214	1,197	28	-292	-0.5	0.9	0.9	0.0	-0.3
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	7,947	7,791	7,206	9,167	7,896	9.1	9.0	8.3	10.4	8.9
At expanding establishments	6,339	6,067	5,938	6,993	6,292	7.3	7.0	6.8	7.9	7.1
At opening establishments	1,608	1,724	1,268	2,174	1,604	1.8	2.0	1.5	2.5	1.8
Gross job losses	8,113	7,943	7,348	7,204	7,846	9.3	9.2	8.4	8.2	8.9
At contracting establishments	6,170	6,748	6,115	5,969	6,438	7.1	7.8	7.0	6.8	7.3
At closing establishments	1,943	1,195	1,233	1,235	1,408	2.2	1.4	1.4	1.4	1.6
Net employment change (2)	-166	-152	-142	1,963	50	-0.2	-0.2	-0.1	2.2	0.0
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	1,932	1,503	1,641	1,631	1,732	8.0	6.2	6.8	6.8	7.2
At expanding establishments	1,518	1,226	1,331	1,347	1,451	6.3	5.1	5.5	5.6	6.0
At opening establishments	414	277	310	284	281	1.7	1.1	1.3	1.2	1.2
Gross job losses	1,409	1,729	1,446	1,653	1,754	5.9	7.1	5.9	6.9	7.2
At contracting establishments	1,101	1,453	1,121	1,318	1,454	4.6	6.0	4.6	5.5	6.0
At closing establishments	308	276	325	335	300	1.3	1.1	1.3	1.4	1.2
Net employment change (2)	523	-226	195	-22	-22	2.1	-0.9	0.9	-0.1	0.0
Footnotes: (1) Includes unclassified sector not shown separately. (2) The net employment change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses. See the Technical Note for further information. (3) Except public administration.