From September 2016 to December 2016 gross job losses in South Dakota totaled 21,226 while gross job gains numbered 21,028, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 198. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross losses gains by 439.

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.)

South Dakota’s 21,226 gross job losses in December 2016 were less than the 21,592 gross job losses recorded in September 2016. Over the past five years, gross job losses reached a high of 21,613 in June 2016 and a low of 19,016 in June 2013. (See chart 1.) South Dakota’s 21,028 gross job gains in December 2016 were lower than the 22,031 gross job gains in the previous three-month period. Over the past five years, gross job gains reached a high of 22,966 in December 2015 and a low of 20,438 in September 2015.

Gross job losses represented 6.1 percent of private sector employment in South Dakota in the fourth quarter of 2016 compared to the 5.8-percent national rate. South Dakota’s rate of gross job losses has been above the U.S. rate in all but three quarters during the past five years. (See chart 2.) In the fourth quarter of 2016, South Dakota’s rate of gross job gains as a percent of private sector employment was 6.0 percent compared to the national rate of 6.2 percent.

During the fourth quarter of 2016, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in 4 of the 7 industry sectors in South Dakota. Within the construction sector, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 510. More than 2,700 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments, while more than 3,200 jobs were lost within closing and contracting establishments. The retail trade, financial activities, and other services sectors each had net job losses of less than 250 in the fourth quarter of 2016. (See table 1.)

Three industry sectors each had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses by less than 250 in the fourth quarter of 2016: professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and wholesale trade. 

South Dakota was among the seven states in the West North Central Division. Five states in the division, including South Dakota, had gross job losses that exceeded gross job gains. (See table A.) South Dakota was among the five states that had rates of gross job losses above the 5.8-percent national rate. Minnesota had a rate of gross job losses that was equal to the national rate, and Kansas had a rate of gross job losses that was lower than the national rate. Missouri and North Dakota had rates of gross job gains that were greater than the 6.2-percent national rate, while the remaining five states had rates of gross job gains that were lower than 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, December 2016, 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	7,465,000	6.2	7,089,000	5.8	376,000	0.4
West North Central (1)	553,559	—	565,496	—	-11,937	—
Iowa	73,751	5.7	76,129	5.9	-2,378	-0.2
Kansas	66,916	5.9	64,620	5.7	2,296	0.2
Minnesota	141,588	5.8	140,856	5.8	732	0.0
Missouri	181,050	7.7	186,321	8.0	-5,271	-0.3
Nebraska	46,186	5.7	49,758	6.2	-3,572	-0.5
North Dakota	23,040	6.7	26,586	7.8	-3,546	-1.1
South Dakota	21,028	6.0	21,226	6.1	-198	-0.1
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 release for first quarter 2017 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 8, 2017.

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 first 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, South Dakota, 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)
	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016	Sept 2016	Dec. 2016	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016	Sept 2016	Dec. 2016
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	22,966	21,499	21,895	22,031	21,028	6.7	6.2	6.4	6.4	6.0
At expanding establishments	18,987	17,243	18,229	18,217	17,156	5.5	5.0	5.3	5.3	4.9
At opening establishments	3,979	4,256	3,666	3,814	3,872	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.1	1.1
Gross job losses	20,376	21,188	21,613	21,592	21,226	5.9	6.1	6.2	6.2	6.1
At contracting establishments	17,186	18,158	18,493	18,354	18,025	5.0	5.2	5.3	5.3	5.2
At closing establishments	3,190	3,030	3,120	3,238	3,201	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9
Net employment change (2)	2,590	311	282	439	-198	0.8	0.1	0.2	0.2	-0.1
Construction
Gross job gains	3,052	3,044	3,180	2,795	2,717	13.8	13.3	13.7	12.3	12.0
At expanding establishments	2,477	2,355	2,684	2,139	2,082	11.2	10.3	11.6	9.4	9.2
At opening establishments	575	689	496	656	635	2.6	3.0	2.1	2.9	2.8
Gross job losses	2,578	2,691	2,638	3,268	3,227	11.6	11.8	11.4	14.3	14.2
At contracting establishments	2,069	2,194	2,014	2,688	2,695	9.3	9.6	8.7	11.8	11.9
At closing establishments	509	497	624	580	532	2.3	2.2	2.7	2.5	2.3
Net employment change (2)	474	353	542	-473	-510	2.2	1.5	2.3	-2.0	-2.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	1,019	891	969	854	957	4.8	4.2	4.6	4.0	4.6
At expanding establishments	917	792	859	724	816	4.3	3.7	4.1	3.4	3.9
At opening establishments	102	99	110	130	141	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.7
Gross job losses	975	949	901	1,068	944	4.6	4.4	4.3	5.0	4.5
At contracting establishments	826	814	777	952	756	3.9	3.8	3.7	4.5	3.6
At closing establishments	149	135	124	116	188	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.9
Net employment change (2)	44	-58	68	-214	13	0.2	-0.2	0.3	-1.0	0.1
Retail trade
Gross job gains	2,973	3,437	3,186	3,030	2,932	5.6	6.4	5.9	5.7	5.5
At expanding establishments	2,680	2,898	2,849	2,676	2,616	5.0	5.4	5.3	5.0	4.9
At opening establishments	293	539	337	354	316	0.6	1.0	0.6	0.7	0.6
Gross job losses	2,958	2,765	2,908	3,315	3,147	5.6	5.2	5.4	6.2	5.8
At contracting establishments	2,713	2,469	2,632	2,950	2,860	5.1	4.6	4.9	5.5	5.3
At closing establishments	245	296	276	365	287	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.5
Net employment change (2)	15	672	278	-285	-215	0.0	1.2	0.5	-0.5	-0.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	1,074	1,135	1,255	1,318	990	3.7	3.9	4.4	4.5	3.4
At expanding establishments	872	956	1,092	1,132	764	3.0	3.3	3.8	3.9	2.6
At opening establishments	202	179	163	186	226	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.8
Gross job losses	1,174	1,557	1,249	990	1,173	4.0	5.4	4.4	3.4	4.0
At contracting establishments	973	1,336	1,117	754	902	3.3	4.6	3.9	2.6	3.1
At closing establishments	201	221	132	236	271	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	-100	-422	6	328	-183	-0.3	-1.5	0.0	1.1	-0.6
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	2,736	2,448	2,551	2,410	2,524	8.8	7.9	8.2	7.7	8.1
At expanding establishments	2,018	1,836	2,011	1,833	1,966	6.5	5.9	6.5	5.9	6.3
At opening establishments	718	612	540	577	558	2.3	2.0	1.7	1.8	1.8
Gross job losses	2,374	2,538	2,167	2,463	2,282	7.7	8.2	7.0	7.9	7.2
At contracting establishments	1,882	2,109	1,757	1,851	1,827	6.1	6.8	5.7	5.9	5.8
At closing establishments	492	429	410	612	455	1.6	1.4	1.3	2.0	1.4
Net employment change (2)	362	-90	384	-53	242	1.1	-0.3	1.2	-0.2	0.9
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	5,779	4,852	4,696	5,584	5,155	12.4	10.3	10.2	12.1	11.0
At expanding establishments	4,418	3,616	3,512	4,211	3,878	9.5	7.7	7.6	9.1	8.3
At opening establishments	1,361	1,236	1,184	1,373	1,277	2.9	2.6	2.6	3.0	2.7
Gross job losses	4,767	4,914	5,885	4,431	4,995	10.2	10.4	12.6	9.6	10.6
At contracting establishments	3,874	4,052	5,128	3,876	4,047	8.3	8.6	11.0	8.4	8.6
At closing establishments	893	862	757	555	948	1.9	1.8	1.6	1.2	2.0
Net employment change (2)	1,012	-62	-1,189	1,153	160	2.2	-0.1	-2.4	2.5	0.4
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	810	828	860	668	656	7.7	7.8	7.9	6.2	6.2
At expanding establishments	651	667	737	556	537	6.2	6.3	6.8	5.2	5.1
At opening establishments	159	161	123	112	119	1.5	1.5	1.1	1.0	1.1
Gross job losses	722	696	624	916	741	6.9	6.6	5.8	8.5	7.0
At contracting establishments	585	601	525	753	647	5.6	5.7	4.9	7.0	6.1
At closing establishments	137	95	99	163	94	1.3	0.9	0.9	1.5	0.9
Net employment change (2)	88	132	236	-248	-85	0.8	1.2	2.1	-2.3	-0.8
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.