For release 10:00 a.m. EDT USDL-12-1530
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Technical information: (202) 691-6553 * BDMInfo@bls.gov * www.bls.gov/bdm
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 * PressOffice@bls.gov
BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS: FOURTH QUARTER 2011
From September to December 2011 gross job gains from opening and
expanding private sector establishments were 6.9 million, a decrease
of 204,000 from the previous quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics reported today. Over this period, gross job losses from
closing and contracting private sector establishments were 6.5 million,
an increase of 181,000 from the previous quarter.
The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number
of gross job losses yielded a net employment change of 368,000 jobs
in the private sector during the fourth quarter of 2011.
(See table 1.)
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. (See the Technical Note for more information.)
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.
Gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 5.5 million in
fourth quarter 2011, a decrease of 203,000 from the previous quarter.
Opening establishments accounted for 1.3 million jobs gained in fourth
quarter 2011, essentially unchanged from the previous quarter.
Contracting establishments lost 5.2 million jobs in fourth quarter
2011. This is an increase of 52,000 from the prior quarter.
In fourth quarter 2011, closing establishments lost 1.3 million jobs,
an increase of 129,000 from the previous quarter. (See table 1 and
table 3.)
Gross job gains represented 6.3 percent of private sector employment
in fourth quarter 2011, while gross job losses represented 6.0 percent
of private sector employment. (See table 2.)
In fourth quarter 2011, the number of establishment births (a subset of
the openings data, see the Technical Note for more information) rose by
6,000 to 197,000. These new establishments accounted for 778,000 jobs,
an increase of 15,000 from the previous quarter. (See table 8.)
Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are
available through first quarter 2011, when 613,000 jobs were lost at
185,000 establishments. These figures represent a decrease from the
prior quarter when 691,000 jobs were lost at 186,000 establishments.
During fourth quarter 2011, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains
in the construction, information, leisure and hospitality, and other
services sectors. The construction industry experienced a net employment
loss of 33,000 jobs after two consecutive quarters of positive net growth.
Professional and business services, which include temporary help
services, accounted for 25 percent of the total private sector net job
change in the fourth quarter of 2011. (See table 3.)
Table A. Three-month private sector gross job gains and losses,
seasonally adjusted
Category 3 months ended
Dec. Mar. June Sept. Dec.
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011
Levels (in thousands)
Gross job gains................ 7,009 6,338 6,892 7,058 6,854
At expanding establishments... 5,631 5,230 5,627 5,745 5,542
At opening establishments..... 1,378 1,108 1,265 1,313 1,312
Gross job losses............... 6,427 6,086 6,314 6,305 6,486
At contracting establishments. 5,199 4,969 5,083 5,160 5,212
At closing establishments..... 1,228 1,117 1,231 1,145 1,274
Net employment change(1)....... 582 252 578 753 368
Rates (percent)
Gross job gains................ 6.6 5.9 6.4 6.5 6.3
At expanding establishments... 5.3 4.9 5.2 5.3 5.1
At opening establishments..... 1.3 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.2
Gross job losses............... 6.1 5.7 5.8 5.9 6.0
At contracting establishments. 4.9 4.7 4.7 4.8 4.8
At closing establishments..... 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.2
Net employment change(1)....... .5 .2 .6 .6 .3
(1) The net employment change is the difference between total
gross job gains and total gross job losses. See the Technical
Note for further information.
Gross job gains declined in all three major firm size classes compared
to the previous quarter. Firms with 1-49 employees experienced the
largest drop in gross job gains. Firms with 250 or more employees
accounted for 85 percent of the total net change in employment for the
quarter. (See tables 4 and 5.)
In the fourth quarter of 2011, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses
in 41 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. California
had the largest net employment gain of 79,832 jobs, followed by Texas
with 65,886 jobs. (See table 6.) Arizona, Missouri, North Carolina,
South Dakota, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico had both a rate of gross
job gains at or above the U.S average of 6.3 percent, and a rate of
gross job losses that was the same or below the national average of
6.0 percent. (See table 7.)
More Information
Additional information on gross job gains and gross job losses are
available online at www.bls.gov/bdm. This information includes data
on the levels and rates of gross job gains and gross job losses by
firm size, not seasonally adjusted data and other seasonally adjusted
time series not presented in this release, charts of gross job gains
and gross job losses by industry and firm size, and frequently asked
questions on firm-size data. Additional information about the Business
Employment Dynamics data can be found in the Technical Note of this
release or may be obtained by e-mailing BDMinfo@bls.gov.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| The Business Employment Dynamics for First Quarter 2012 are scheduled |
| to be released on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. (EST). |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 by the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing quarterly state unemployment
insurance (UI) records. Most employers in the U.S. are required to file
quarterly reports on the employment and wages of workers covered by UI
laws, and to pay quarterly UI taxes. The quarterly UI reports are sent by
the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) to BLS and form the basis of the BLS
establishment universe sampling frame. These reports also are used to pro-
duce the quarterly QCEW data on total employment and wages and the longitu-
dinal BED data on gross job gains and losses. Other important BLS uses
of the UI reports are in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program.
(See table below for differences between QCEW, CES, and BED.)
In the BED program, the quarterly UI 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 establish-
ments.
Differences between QCEW, BED, and CES employment measures
The BLS publishes three different establishment-based employment mea-
sures for any given quarter. Each of these measures--QCEW, BED, and CES--
makes use of the quarterly UI employment reports in producing data; how-
ever, each measure has a somewhat different universe coverage, estimation
procedure, and publication product.
Differences in coverage and estimation methods can result in somewhat
different measures of over-the-quarter employment change. It is important to
understand program differences and the intended uses of the program products.
(See table below.) Additional information on each program can be obtained
from the program Web sites shown in the table.
Summary of Major Differences between QCEW, BED, and CES Employment Measures
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| QCEW | BED | CES
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Source |--Count of UI admini-|--Count of longitudi- |--Sample survey:
| strative records | nally-linked UI ad- | 440,000 establish-
| submitted by 9.1 | ministrative records| ments
| million employers | submitted by 6.7 |
| | million private sec-|
| | tor employers |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Coverage |--UI and UCFE cover- |--UI Coverage, exclud-|Nonfarm wage and sal-
| age: all employers| ing government, pri-| ary jobs:
| subject to state | vate households, and|--UI Coverage, exclud-
| and federal UI Laws| establishments with | ing agriculture, pri-
| | zero employment | vate households, and
| | | self-employed workers
| | |--Other employment, in-
| | | cluding railroads,
| | | religious organiza-
| | | tions, and other non-
| | | UI-covered jobs
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Publication|--Quarterly |--Quarterly |--Monthly
frequency | -6 months after the| -7 months after the | -Usually first Friday
| end of each quar- | end of each quarter| of following month
| ter | |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Use of UI |--Directly summarizes|--Links each new UI |--Uses UI file as a sam-
file | and publishes each | quarter to longitu- | pling frame and annu-
| new quarter of UI | dinal database and | ally realigns (bench-
| data | directly summarizes | marks) sample esti-
| | gross job gains and | mates to first quar-
| | losses | ter UI levels
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Principal |--Provides a quarter-|--Provides quarterly |--Provides current month-
products | ly and annual uni- | employer dynamics | ly estimates of employ-
| verse count of es- | data on establish- | ment, hours, and earn-
| tablishments, em- | ment openings, clos-| ings at the MSA, state,
| ployment, and wages| ings, expansions, | and national level by
| at the county, MSA,| and contractions at | industry
| state, and national| the national level |
| levels by detailed | by NAICS super- |
| industry | sectors and by size |
| | of firm, and at the |
| | state private-sector|
| | total level |
| |--Future expansions |
| | will include data |
| | with greater in- |
| | dustry detail and |
| | data at the county |
| | and MSA level |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Principal |--Major uses include:|--Major uses include: |--Major uses include:
uses | -Detailed locality | -Business cycle | -Principal national
| data | analysis | economic indicator
| -Periodic universe | -Analysis of employ-| -Official time series
| counts for bench- | er dynamics under- | for employment change
| marking sample | lying economic ex- | measures
| survey estimates | pansions and con- | -Input into other ma-
| -Sample frame for | tractions | jor economic indi-
| BLS establishment | -Analysis of employ-| cators
| surveys | ment expansion and |
| | contraction by size|
| | of firm |
| | |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Program |--www.bls.gov/cew/ |--www.bls.gov/bdm/ |--www.bls.gov/ces/
Web sites | | |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Coverage
Employment and wage data for workers covered by state UI and Unemployment
Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) laws are compiled from quarterly
contribution reports submitted to the SWAs by employers. In addition to the
quarterly contribution reports, employers who operate multiple establishments
within a state complete a questionnaire, called the "Multiple Worksite Report,"
which provides detailed information on the location of their establishments.
These reports are based on place of employment rather than place of residence.
UI and UCFE coverage is broad and basically comparable from state to state.
Major exclusions from UI coverage are self-employed workers, religious or-
ganizations, most agricultural workers on small farms, all members of the
Armed Forces, elected officials in most states, most employees of railroads,
some domestic workers, most student workers at schools, and employees of cer-
tain small nonprofit organizations.
Gross job gains and gross job losses in this release are derived from lon-
gitudinal histories of 6.7 million private sector employer reports out
of 9.1 million total reports of employment and wages submitted by states to
BLS in the first quarter of 2011. Gross job gains and gross job losses data
in this release do not report estimates for government employees or private
households (NAICS 814110) and do not include establishments with zero employ-
ment in both previous and current quarters. Data from Puerto Rico and the
Virgin Islands also are excluded from the national data. As an illustration,
the table below shows, in millions of establishments, the number of establish-
ments excluded from the gross job gains and gross job losses data in the
first quarter of 2011:
Number of active establishments included in
Business Employment Dynamics data at the
national level
Millions
Total establishments QCEW program....................................9.1
Excluded: Public sector.........................................0.3
Private households....................................0.7
Zero employment.......................................1.3
Establishments in Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands..............................0.1
Total establishments included in Business
Employment Dynamics data.............................................6.7
Unit of analysis
Establishments are used in the tabulation of the BED statistics by in-
dustry and firms are used in the tabulation of the BED size class sta-
tistics. An establishment is defined as an economic unit that produces
goods or services, usually at a single physical location, and engages in
one or predominantly one activity. A firm is a legal business, either
corporate or otherwise, and may consist of several establishments. Firm-
level data are compiled based on an aggregation of establishments under
common ownership by a corporate parent using employer tax identification
numbers. The firm-level aggregation, which is consistent with the role of
corporations as the economic decision makers, is used for the measurement
of the BED data elements by size class.
Because of the difference in the unit of analysis, total gross job gains
and gross job losses by size class are lower than total gross job gains and
gross job losses by industry, as some establishment gains and losses within
a firm are offset during the aggregation process. However, the total net
changes in employment are the same for not seasonally adjusted data and are
similar for seasonally adjusted data.
Concepts and methodology
The Business Employment Dynamics data measure the net change in employ-
ment at the establishment or firm level. These changes come about in one
of four ways. A net increase in employment can come from either opening
units or expanding units. A net decrease in employment can come from either
closing units or contracting units. Gross job gains include the sum of all
jobs added at either opening or expanding units. Gross job losses include
the sum of all jobs lost in either closing or contracting units. The net
change in employment is the difference between gross job gains and gross
job losses.
The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:
Openings. These are either units 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 em-
ployment in the previous quarter.
Expansions. These are units 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 units with positive third month employment in the pre-
vious quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current
quarter.
Contractions. These are units with positive employment in the third month
in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment
over this period.
Births. These are units with positive third month employment for the
first time in the current quarter with no links to the prior quarter, or
units with positive third month employment in the current quarter and zero
employment in the third month of the previous four quarters. Births are a
subset of openings not including re-openings of seasonal businesses.
Deaths. These are units with no employment or zero employment reported in
the third month of four consecutive quarters following the last quarter with
positive employment. Deaths are a subset of closings not including temporary
shutdowns of seasonal businesses. A unit that closes during the quarter may
be a death, but we wait three quarters to determine whether it is a permanent
closing or a temporary shutdown. Therefore, there is always a lag of three
quarters for the publication of death statistics.
All establishment-level employment changes are measured from the third
month of each quarter. Not all establishments and firms change their em-
ployment levels. Units with no change in employment count towards estimates
of total employment, but not for levels of gross employment job gains and
gross job losses.
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 quar-
ters. This provides a symmetric growth rate. 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.
Establishment Births and Deaths
For the purpose of BED statistics, births are defined as establishments
that appear in the longitudinal database for the first time with positive
employment in the third month of a quarter, or showed four consecutive
quarters of zero employment in the third month followed by a quarter in
which it shows positive employment in the third month. Similarly, deaths
are defined as establishments that either drop out of the longitudinal
database or an establishment that had positive employment in the third month
of a given quarter followed by four consecutive quarters of showing zero
employment in the third month. Although the data for establishment births
and deaths are tabulated independently from the data for openings and
closings, the concepts are not mutually exclusive. An establishment that
is defined as a birth in a given quarter is necessarily an opening as well,
and an establishment defined as a death in a quarter must also be a closing.
Since openings include seasonal, and other, re-openings and closings include
temporary shutdowns, the not seasonally adjusted values for births and
deaths must be less than those openings and closings. However, because some
BED series do not have many re-openings or temporary shutdowns, as well as
the fact that births and deaths are independently seasonally adjusted from
openings and closings, there may be instances in which the seasonally
adjusted value of the former is greater than the latter.
Linkage methodology
Prior to the measurement of gross job gains and gross job losses, QCEW
records are linked across two quarters. The linkage process matches esta-
blishments' unique SWA identification numbers (SWA-ID). Between 95 to 97
percent of establishments identified as continuous from quarter to quarter
are matched by SWA-ID. The rest are linked in one of three ways. The first
method uses predecessor and successor information, identified by the states,
which relates records with different SWA-IDs across quarters. Predecessor
and successor relations can come about for a variety of reasons, including
a change in ownership, a firm restructuring, or a UI account restructuring.
If a match cannot be attained in this manner, a probability-based match is
used. This match attempts to identify two establishments with different SWA-
IDs as continuous. The match is based upon comparisons such as the same
name, address, and phone number. Third, an analyst examines unmatched re-
cords individually and makes a possible match.
In order to ensure the highest possible quality of data, SWAs verify with
employers and update, if necessary, the industry, location, and ownership
classification of all establishments on a 3-year cycle. Changes in establish-
ment classification codes resulting from the verification process are intro-
duced with the data reported for the first quarter of the year. Changes re-
sulting from improved employer reporting also are introduced in the first
quarter.
Sizing methodology
The method of dynamic sizing is used in calculations for the BED size-
class data series. Dynamic sizing allocates each firm's employment gain or
loss during a quarter to each respective size class in which the change
occurred. For example, if a firm grew from 2 employees in quarter 1 to 38
employees in quarter 2, then, of the 36-employee increase, 2 would be al-
located to the first size class, 5 to the size class 5 to 9, 10 to size
class 10 to 19, and 19 to size class 20 to 49.
Dynamic sizing provides symmetrical firm-size estimates and eliminates
any systematic effects which may be caused by the transitory and reverting
changes in firms' sizes over time. Additionally, it allocates each job
gain or loss to the actual size class where it occurred.
Annual Data
The annual gross job gains and gross job losses measure the net change
in employment at the establishment level from the third month of a quarter
in the previous year to the third month of the same quarter in the current
year. The BLS publishes annual BED data based on March-to-March changes
once a year with the release of the first quarter BED data. The annual
data based on over-the-year changes for other quarters of the year are
available upon request. The definitions and methodology in measuring
annual gross job gains and gross job losses are similar to the quarterly
measures. The linkage method considers all predecessor and successor
relations that may come about due to changes in ownership and corporate
restructuring over the entire year. At the establishment level, some of
the quarterly job gains and job losses are offset during the estimation
over the year. Therefore, the sum of four quarters of gross job gains
and gross job losses are not equal to annual gross job gains and gross
job losses. The net change in employment over the year, however, is
equal to the sum of four quarterly net changes on a not seasonally
adjusted basis.
Seasonal adjustment
Over the course of a year, the levels of employment and the associated
job flows undergo sharp fluctuations due to such seasonal events as changes
in the weather, reduced or expanded production, harvests, major holidays,
and the opening and closing of schools. The effect of such seasonal vari-
ation can be very large.
Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each
year, their influence can be eliminated by adjusting these statistics from
quarter to quarter. These adjustments make nonseasonal developments, such as
declines in economic activity, easier to recognize. For example, the large
number of youths taking summer jobs is likely to obscure other changes that
have taken place in June relative to March, making it difficult to determine
if the level of economic activity has risen or declined. However, because
the effect of students finishing school in previous years is known, the
statistics for the current year can be adjusted to allow for a comparable
change. The adjusted figures provide a more useful tool with which to ana-
lyze changes in economic activity.
The employment data series for opening, expanding, closing, and contract-
ing units are independently seasonally adjusted; net changes are calculated
based on the difference between gross job gains and gross job losses. Simi-
larly, for industry data, the establishment counts data series for opening,
expanding, closing, and contracting establishments are independently adjusted,
and the net changes are calculated based on the difference between the number
of opening and closing establishments. Additionally, establishment and em-
ployment levels are independently seasonally adjusted to calculate the sea-
sonally adjusted rates. Concurrent seasonal adjustment is run using X-12
ARIMA. Seasonally adjusted data series for the total private sector are cal-
culated by summing the seasonally adjusted data for all sectors, including
the unclassified sector, which is not published separately.
The employment data series for opening, expanding, closing, and contracting
units for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are seasonally
adjusted at the total private level only. The sum of the state series for
opening, expanding, closing, and contracting units will not necessarily be
equal to the national total private series because of the independent seasonal
adjustment of these series.
The net over-the-quarter change derived by summing the BED component series
will differ from the net employment change estimated from the seasonally ad-
justed total private employment series from the CES program. The intended use
of BED statistics is to show the dynamic labor market changes that underlie
the net employment change statistic. As such, data users interested particu-
larly in the net employment change and not in the gross job flows underlying
this change should refer to CES data for over-the-quarter net employment
changes.
Reliability of the data
Since the data series on Business Employment Dynamics are based on admini-
strative rather than sample data, there are no issues related to sampling
error. Nonsampling error, however, still exists. Nonsampling errors can oc-
cur for many reasons, such as the employer submitting corrected employment
data after the end of the quarter or typographical errors made by businesses
when providing information. Such errors, however, are likely to be distri-
buted randomly throughout the dataset.
Changes in administrative data sometimes create complications for the
linkage process. This can result in overstating openings and closings while
understating expansions and contractions. The BLS continues to refine methods
for improving the linkage process to alleviate the effects of these compli-
cations.
The BED data series are subject to periodic minor changes based on correc-
tions in QCEW records, updates on predecessors and successors information, and
seasonal adjustment revisions.
Annual revisions are published each year with the release of the first quarter
data. These revisions cover the last four quarters of not seasonally adjusted
data and 5 years of seasonally adjusted data.
Additional statistics and other information
Several other programs within BLS produce closely related information.
The QCEW program, also known as the ES-202 program, provides both quarterly
and annual estimates of employment by state, county, and detailed industry.
News releases on quarterly county employment and wages are available upon
request from the Division of Administrative Statistics and Labor Turnover,
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC 20212;
telephone 202-691-6567; (http://www.bls.gov/cew/); (e-mail: QCEWInfo@bls.gov).
The CES program produces monthly estimates of employment, its net change,
and earnings by detailed industry. These estimates are part of the Employ-
ment Situation report put out monthly by BLS.
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program provides month-
ly measures of job openings, as well as employee hires and separations.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired in-
dividuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral
number: 1-800-877-8339.
Table 1. Private sector gross job gains and job losses, seasonally adjusted
Total private
(In thousands)
Gross job gains Gross job losses
Year 3 months ended Net change(1) Total Expanding Opening Total Contracting Closing
establishments establishments establishments establishments
2001 March -119 8,491 6,728 1,763 8,610 6,717 1,893
June -780 7,991 6,302 1,689 8,771 7,036 1,735
September -1,148 7,630 5,945 1,685 8,778 6,990 1,788
December -1,009 7,547 5,912 1,635 8,556 6,870 1,686
2002 March -10 8,071 6,298 1,773 8,081 6,434 1,647
June -30 7,868 6,145 1,723 7,898 6,274 1,624
September -151 7,630 6,039 1,591 7,781 6,248 1,533
December -241 7,483 5,938 1,545 7,724 6,185 1,539
2003 March -393 7,467 5,928 1,539 7,860 6,307 1,553
June -90 7,398 5,929 1,469 7,488 6,030 1,458
September 204 7,392 5,923 1,469 7,188 5,828 1,360
December 297 7,521 6,005 1,516 7,224 5,800 1,424
2004 March 470 7,715 6,204 1,511 7,245 5,795 1,450
June 644 7,754 6,235 1,519 7,110 5,639 1,471
September 206 7,633 6,060 1,573 7,427 5,888 1,539
December 757 7,844 6,243 1,601 7,087 5,663 1,424
2005 March 384 7,620 6,131 1,489 7,236 5,801 1,435
June 593 7,774 6,231 1,543 7,181 5,776 1,405
September 677 7,965 6,387 1,578 7,288 5,844 1,444
December 494 7,807 6,252 1,555 7,313 5,948 1,365
2006 March 874 7,797 6,354 1,443 6,923 5,636 1,287
June 371 7,758 6,246 1,512 7,387 6,015 1,372
September 52 7,499 6,061 1,438 7,447 6,097 1,350
December 455 7,740 6,223 1,517 7,285 5,941 1,344
2007 March 555 7,723 6,303 1,420 7,168 5,871 1,297
June 155 7,630 6,222 1,408 7,475 6,073 1,402
September -240 7,333 5,858 1,475 7,573 6,219 1,354
December 274 7,642 6,178 1,464 7,368 6,016 1,352
2008 March -215 7,234 5,831 1,403 7,449 6,086 1,363
June -574 7,255 5,851 1,404 7,829 6,351 1,478
September -955 6,893 5,526 1,367 7,848 6,467 1,381
December -1,819 6,698 5,342 1,356 8,517 7,030 1,487
2009 March -2,696 5,830 4,651 1,179 8,526 7,109 1,417
June -1,653 6,395 5,091 1,304 8,048 6,661 1,387
September -893 6,345 5,127 1,218 7,238 5,881 1,357
December -238 6,634 5,306 1,328 6,872 5,586 1,286
2010 March -254 6,246 5,084 1,162 6,500 5,299 1,201
June 721 6,969 5,687 1,282 6,248 5,086 1,162
September 205 6,685 5,427 1,258 6,480 5,255 1,225
December 582 7,009 5,631 1,378 6,427 5,199 1,228
2011 March 252 6,338 5,230 1,108 6,086 4,969 1,117
June 578 6,892 5,627 1,265 6,314 5,083 1,231
September 753 7,058 5,745 1,313 6,305 5,160 1,145
December 368 6,854 5,542 1,312 6,486 5,212 1,274
(1) Net change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses.
Table 2. Private sector gross job gains and losses, as a percent of employment(1), seasonally adjusted
Total private
(Percent)
Gross job gains Gross job losses
Year 3 months ended Net change(2) Total Expanding Opening Total Contracting Closing
establishments establishments establishments establishments
2001 March -.1 7.7 6.1 1.6 7.8 6.1 1.7
June -.8 7.2 5.7 1.5 8.0 6.4 1.6
September -1.1 6.9 5.4 1.5 8.0 6.4 1.6
December -1.0 7.0 5.5 1.5 8.0 6.4 1.6
2002 March .0 7.5 5.9 1.6 7.5 6.0 1.5
June .0 7.3 5.7 1.6 7.3 5.8 1.5
September -.1 7.1 5.6 1.5 7.2 5.8 1.4
December -.3 6.9 5.5 1.4 7.2 5.8 1.4
2003 March -.5 6.9 5.5 1.4 7.4 5.9 1.5
June .0 7.0 5.6 1.4 7.0 5.6 1.4
September .1 6.9 5.5 1.4 6.8 5.5 1.3
December .3 7.0 5.6 1.4 6.7 5.4 1.3
2004 March .5 7.2 5.8 1.4 6.7 5.4 1.3
June .6 7.2 5.8 1.4 6.6 5.2 1.4
September .3 7.1 5.6 1.5 6.8 5.4 1.4
December .7 7.2 5.7 1.5 6.5 5.2 1.3
2005 March .4 7.0 5.6 1.4 6.6 5.3 1.3
June .6 7.1 5.7 1.4 6.5 5.2 1.3
September .6 7.2 5.8 1.4 6.6 5.3 1.3
December .4 7.0 5.6 1.4 6.6 5.4 1.2
2006 March .9 7.0 5.7 1.3 6.1 5.0 1.1
June .3 6.8 5.5 1.3 6.5 5.3 1.2
September .1 6.7 5.4 1.3 6.6 5.4 1.2
December .3 6.8 5.5 1.3 6.5 5.3 1.2
2007 March .4 6.7 5.5 1.2 6.3 5.2 1.1
June .2 6.7 5.5 1.2 6.5 5.3 1.2
September -.3 6.4 5.1 1.3 6.7 5.5 1.2
December .2 6.7 5.4 1.3 6.5 5.3 1.2
2008 March -.2 6.3 5.1 1.2 6.5 5.3 1.2
June -.6 6.3 5.1 1.2 6.9 5.6 1.3
September -.8 6.1 4.9 1.2 6.9 5.7 1.2
December -1.6 6.0 4.8 1.2 7.6 6.3 1.3
2009 March -2.4 5.4 4.3 1.1 7.8 6.5 1.3
June -1.5 6.0 4.8 1.2 7.5 6.2 1.3
September -.9 6.0 4.8 1.2 6.9 5.6 1.3
December -.2 6.3 5.0 1.3 6.5 5.3 1.2
2010 March -.2 5.9 4.8 1.1 6.1 5.0 1.1
June .7 6.6 5.4 1.2 5.9 4.8 1.1
September .1 6.3 5.1 1.2 6.2 5.0 1.2
December .5 6.6 5.3 1.3 6.1 4.9 1.2
2011 March .2 5.9 4.9 1.0 5.7 4.7 1.0
June .6 6.4 5.2 1.2 5.8 4.7 1.1
September .6 6.5 5.3 1.2 5.9 4.8 1.1
December .3 6.3 5.1 1.2 6.0 4.8 1.2
(1) The rates measure gross job gains and gross job losses as a percentage
of the previous and current quarter employment levels.
(2) Net change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses.
Table 3. Private sector gross job gains and losses by industry, seasonally adjusted
Gross job gains and job losses Gross job gains and job losses
(in thousands) as a percent of employment
Category 3 months ended 3 months ended
Dec. Mar. June Sept Dec. Dec. Mar. June Sept Dec.
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011
Total private(1)
Gross job gains 7,009 6,338 6,892 7,058 6,854 6.6 5.9 6.4 6.5 6.3
At expanding establishments 5,631 5,230 5,627 5,745 5,542 5.3 4.9 5.2 5.3 5.1
At opening establishments 1,378 1,108 1,265 1,313 1,312 1.3 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.2
Gross job losses 6,427 6,086 6,314 6,305 6,486 6.1 5.7 5.8 5.9 6.0
At contracting establishments 5,199 4,969 5,083 5,160 5,212 4.9 4.7 4.7 4.8 4.8
At closing establishments 1,228 1,117 1,231 1,145 1,274 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.2
Net employment change 582 252 578 753 368 .5 .2 .6 .6 .3
Goods-producing
Gross job gains 1,364 1,296 1,396 1,437 1,348 7.2 6.9 7.3 7.5 7.0
At expanding establishments 1,138 1,107 1,184 1,222 1,138 6.0 5.9 6.2 6.4 5.9
At opening establishments 226 189 212 215 210 1.2 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.1
Gross job losses 1,406 1,268 1,264 1,259 1,352 7.5 6.8 6.6 6.6 7.0
At contracting establishments 1,160 1,049 1,029 1,049 1,118 6.2 5.6 5.4 5.5 5.8
At closing establishments 246 219 235 210 234 1.3 1.2 1.2 1.1 1.2
Net employment change -42 28 132 178 -4 -.3 .1 .7 .9 .0
Natural resources and mining
Gross job gains 284 261 276 301 293 15.6 14.2 15.0 16.0 15.1
At expanding establishments 240 225 239 259 250 13.2 12.2 13.0 13.8 12.9
At opening establishments 44 36 37 42 43 2.4 2.0 2.0 2.2 2.2
Gross job losses 278 260 259 239 269 15.2 14.1 14.0 12.8 13.9
At contracting establishments 241 225 214 208 234 13.2 12.2 11.6 11.1 12.1
At closing establishments 37 35 45 31 35 2.0 1.9 2.4 1.7 1.8
Net employment change 6 1 17 62 24 .4 .1 1.0 3.2 1.2
Construction
Gross job gains 638 613 662 678 623 11.6 11.3 12.2 12.3 11.3
At expanding establishments 499 493 526 544 495 9.1 9.1 9.7 9.9 9.0
At opening establishments 139 120 136 134 128 2.5 2.2 2.5 2.4 2.3
Gross job losses 697 638 626 613 656 12.8 11.8 11.5 11.2 11.8
At contracting establishments 541 499 488 483 511 9.9 9.2 9.0 8.8 9.2
At closing establishments 156 139 138 130 145 2.9 2.6 2.5 2.4 2.6
Net employment change -59 -25 36 65 -33 -1.2 -.5 .7 1.1 -.5
Manufacturing
Gross job gains 442 422 458 458 432 3.9 3.6 3.9 3.9 3.6
At expanding establishments 399 389 419 419 393 3.5 3.3 3.6 3.6 3.3
At opening establishments 43 33 39 39 39 .4 .3 .3 .3 .3
Gross job losses 431 370 379 407 427 3.8 3.2 3.2 3.4 3.7
At contracting establishments 378 325 327 358 373 3.3 2.8 2.8 3.0 3.2
At closing establishments 53 45 52 49 54 .5 .4 .4 .4 .5
Net employment change 11 52 79 51 5 .1 .4 .7 .5 -.1
Service-providing(1)
Gross job gains 5,645 5,042 5,496 5,621 5,506 6.4 5.7 6.2 6.3 6.1
At expanding establishments 4,493 4,123 4,443 4,523 4,404 5.1 4.7 5.0 5.1 4.9
At opening establishments 1,152 919 1,053 1,098 1,102 1.3 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.2
Gross job losses 5,021 4,818 5,050 5,046 5,134 5.7 5.5 5.7 5.7 5.8
At contracting establishments 4,039 3,920 4,054 4,111 4,094 4.6 4.5 4.6 4.6 4.6
At closing establishments 982 898 996 935 1,040 1.1 1.0 1.1 1.1 1.2
Net employment change 624 224 446 575 372 .7 .2 .5 .6 .3
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains 281 258 285 283 275 5.2 4.7 5.2 5.1 4.9
At expanding establishments 223 214 235 230 224 4.1 3.9 4.3 4.1 4.0
At opening establishments 58 44 50 53 51 1.1 .8 .9 1.0 .9
Gross job losses 253 246 243 256 251 4.6 4.4 4.3 4.6 4.5
At contracting establishments 197 189 185 202 191 3.6 3.4 3.3 3.6 3.4
At closing establishments 56 57 58 54 60 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1
Net employment change 28 12 42 27 24 .6 .3 .9 .5 .4
Retail trade
Gross job gains 893 805 895 870 892 6.2 5.5 6.1 5.9 6.1
At expanding establishments 763 698 769 736 775 5.3 4.8 5.2 5.0 5.3
At opening establishments 130 107 126 134 117 .9 .7 .9 .9 .8
Gross job losses 812 814 768 864 813 5.6 5.6 5.2 5.8 5.6
At contracting establishments 692 704 648 754 687 4.8 4.8 4.4 5.1 4.7
At closing establishments 120 110 120 110 126 .8 .8 .8 .7 .9
Net employment change 81 -9 127 6 79 .6 -.1 .9 .1 .5
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains 253 204 220 227 244 6.3 5.1 5.4 5.6 5.9
At expanding establishments 217 173 187 192 211 5.4 4.3 4.6 4.7 5.1
At opening establishments 36 31 33 35 33 .9 .8 .8 .9 .8
Gross job losses 193 223 200 196 202 4.8 5.5 4.9 4.8 4.9
At contracting establishments 160 190 164 163 165 4.0 4.7 4.0 4.0 4.0
At closing establishments 33 33 36 33 37 .8 .8 .9 .8 .9
Net employment change 60 -19 20 31 42 1.5 -.4 .5 .8 1.0
Utilities
Gross job gains 12 11 12 11 12 2.2 2.0 2.2 2.0 2.2
At expanding establishments 10 10 10 10 10 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.8
At opening establishments 2 1 2 1 2 .4 .2 .4 .2 .4
Gross job losses 11 9 13 12 12 2.0 1.7 2.4 2.2 2.2
At contracting establishments 10 8 12 11 11 1.8 1.5 2.2 2.0 2.0
At closing establishments 1 1 1 1 1 .2 .2 .2 .2 .2
Net employment change 1 2 -1 -1 0 .2 .3 -.2 -.2 .0
Information
Gross job gains 127 111 124 123 123 4.8 4.1 4.7 4.6 4.6
At expanding establishments 104 95 106 102 99 3.9 3.5 4.0 3.8 3.7
At opening establishments 23 16 18 21 24 .9 .6 .7 .8 .9
Gross job losses 138 130 129 122 135 5.1 4.8 4.8 4.5 5.1
At contracting establishments 114 110 103 103 101 4.2 4.1 3.8 3.8 3.8
At closing establishments 24 20 26 19 34 .9 .7 1.0 .7 1.3
Net employment change -11 -19 -5 1 -12 -.3 -.7 -.1 .1 -.5
Financial activities
Gross job gains 369 317 346 370 359 5.0 4.3 4.6 5.0 4.8
At expanding establishments 282 257 277 294 282 3.8 3.5 3.7 4.0 3.8
At opening establishments 87 60 69 76 77 1.2 .8 .9 1.0 1.0
Gross job losses 346 334 352 336 352 4.7 4.5 4.8 4.6 4.7
At contracting establishments 263 255 272 258 268 3.6 3.4 3.7 3.5 3.6
At closing establishments 83 79 80 78 84 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1
Net employment change 23 -17 -6 34 7 .3 -.2 -.2 .4 .1
Professional and business services
Gross job gains 1,387 1,219 1,300 1,359 1,340 8.2 7.1 7.6 7.8 7.7
At expanding establishments 1,116 1,013 1,063 1,109 1,077 6.6 5.9 6.2 6.4 6.2
At opening establishments 271 206 237 250 263 1.6 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.5
Gross job losses 1,176 1,134 1,212 1,152 1,249 6.9 6.6 7.0 6.7 7.2
At contracting establishments 918 907 948 915 977 5.4 5.3 5.5 5.3 5.6
At closing establishments 258 227 264 237 272 1.5 1.3 1.5 1.4 1.6
Net employment change 211 85 88 207 91 1.3 .5 .6 1.1 .5
Education and health services
Gross job gains 842 733 777 841 800 4.5 3.8 4.1 4.4 4.2
At expanding establishments 697 630 660 710 672 3.7 3.3 3.5 3.7 3.5
At opening establishments 145 103 117 131 128 .8 .5 .6 .7 .7
Gross job losses 704 668 751 707 731 3.8 3.6 4.0 3.7 3.8
At contracting establishments 580 558 618 588 601 3.1 3.0 3.3 3.1 3.1
At closing establishments 124 110 133 119 130 .7 .6 .7 .6 .7
Net employment change 138 65 26 134 69 .7 .2 .1 .7 .4
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains 1,131 1,037 1,166 1,170 1,099 8.6 7.9 8.8 8.8 8.1
At expanding establishments 862 814 903 914 838 6.6 6.2 6.8 6.9 6.2
At opening establishments 269 223 263 256 261 2.0 1.7 2.0 1.9 1.9
Gross job losses 1,100 985 1,095 1,104 1,101 8.4 7.4 8.3 8.2 8.2
At contracting establishments 893 799 901 899 882 6.8 6.0 6.8 6.7 6.6
At closing establishments 207 186 194 205 219 1.6 1.4 1.5 1.5 1.6
Net employment change 31 52 71 66 -2 .2 .5 .5 .6 -.1
Other services
Gross job gains 272 258 280 277 259 7.3 6.9 7.4 7.3 6.9
At expanding establishments 210 206 222 215 204 5.6 5.5 5.9 5.7 5.4
At opening establishments 62 52 58 62 55 1.7 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.5
Gross job losses 267 249 259 270 261 7.2 6.7 6.9 7.2 6.9
At contracting establishments 207 193 196 211 204 5.6 5.2 5.2 5.6 5.4
At closing establishments 60 56 63 59 57 1.6 1.5 1.7 1.6 1.5
Net employment change 5 9 21 7 -2 .1 .2 .5 .1 .0
(1) Includes unclassified sector, not shown separately
Table 4. Private sector gross job gains and losses by firm size, seasonally adjusted
(In thousands)
Total private by firm(1) Firm size 1 - 49 employees Firm size 50 - 249 employees Firm size 250 or more employees
Year 3 months Net Gross job Net Gross job Net Gross job Net Gross job
ended change(2,3) gains losses change gains losses change gains losses change gains losses
2001 March 52 7,033 6,981 23 3,508 3,485 -87 1,277 1,364 116 2,248 2,132
June -843 6,432 7,275 -123 3,393 3,516 -180 1,223 1,403 -540 1,816 2,356
September -1,214 6,124 7,338 -271 3,333 3,604 -253 1,142 1,395 -690 1,649 2,339
December -1,041 6,146 7,187 -118 3,325 3,443 -200 1,138 1,338 -723 1,683 2,406
2002 March 70 6,602 6,532 54 3,402 3,348 -52 1,194 1,246 68 2,006 1,938
June -61 6,416 6,477 69 3,379 3,310 -7 1,191 1,198 -123 1,846 1,969
September -176 6,190 6,366 20 3,335 3,315 -46 1,144 1,190 -150 1,711 1,861
December -247 6,114 6,361 -3 3,299 3,302 -73 1,106 1,179 -171 1,709 1,880
2003 March -326 6,112 6,438 -135 3,257 3,392 -56 1,127 1,183 -135 1,728 1,863
June -137 6,108 6,245 112 3,346 3,234 -26 1,133 1,159 -223 1,629 1,852
September 193 6,162 5,969 120 3,327 3,207 21 1,127 1,106 52 1,708 1,656
December 310 6,218 5,908 146 3,340 3,194 32 1,128 1,096 132 1,750 1,618
2004 March 430 6,306 5,876 153 3,392 3,239 137 1,194 1,057 140 1,720 1,580
June 621 6,471 5,850 169 3,387 3,218 141 1,196 1,055 311 1,888 1,577
September 197 6,243 6,046 88 3,379 3,291 88 1,175 1,087 21 1,689 1,668
December 759 6,494 5,735 274 3,480 3,206 101 1,172 1,071 384 1,842 1,458
2005 March 368 6,320 5,952 66 3,416 3,350 97 1,161 1,064 205 1,743 1,538
June 570 6,435 5,865 243 3,476 3,233 146 1,198 1,052 181 1,761 1,580
September 701 6,672 5,971 218 3,510 3,292 85 1,195 1,110 398 1,967 1,569
December 506 6,406 5,900 169 3,462 3,293 45 1,140 1,095 292 1,804 1,512
2006 March 788 6,433 5,645 334 3,547 3,213 222 1,213 991 232 1,673 1,441
June 375 6,349 5,974 117 3,434 3,317 110 1,190 1,080 148 1,725 1,577
September 43 6,103 6,060 -14 3,329 3,343 27 1,127 1,100 30 1,647 1,617
December 447 6,375 5,928 117 3,393 3,276 74 1,147 1,073 256 1,835 1,579
2007 March 481 6,301 5,820 196 3,454 3,258 109 1,155 1,046 176 1,692 1,516
June 170 6,260 6,090 -28 3,340 3,368 106 1,181 1,075 92 1,739 1,647
September -252 5,907 6,159 -129 3,256 3,385 -53 1,075 1,128 -70 1,576 1,646
December 259 6,231 5,972 -10 3,304 3,314 51 1,133 1,082 218 1,794 1,576
2008 March -259 5,810 6,069 -132 3,240 3,372 0 1,076 1,076 -127 1,494 1,621
June -552 5,862 6,414 -282 3,181 3,463 -38 1,100 1,138 -232 1,581 1,813
September -1,016 5,499 6,515 -354 3,045 3,399 -161 1,015 1,176 -501 1,439 1,940
December -1,880 5,323 7,203 -706 2,898 3,604 -380 941 1,321 -794 1,484 2,278
2009 March -2,626 4,582 7,208 -962 2,725 3,687 -600 807 1,407 -1,064 1,050 2,114
June -1,776 5,176 6,952 -472 2,952 3,424 -276 958 1,234 -1,028 1,266 2,294
September -957 5,134 6,091 -382 2,818 3,200 -127 928 1,055 -448 1,388 1,836
December -310 5,389 5,699 -176 2,928 3,104 -52 957 1,009 -82 1,504 1,586
2010 March -213 5,096 5,309 -177 2,866 3,043 7 910 903 -43 1,320 1,363
June 686 5,819 5,133 236 3,096 2,860 211 1,080 869 239 1,643 1,404
September 175 5,493 5,318 14 2,935 2,921 72 995 923 89 1,563 1,474
December 502 5,769 5,267 74 3,036 2,962 87 1,029 942 341 1,704 1,363
2011 March 300 5,270 4,970 95 2,931 2,836 120 954 834 85 1,385 1,300
June 513 5,727 5,214 174 3,043 2,869 174 1,066 892 165 1,618 1,453
September 747 5,869 5,122 207 3,061 2,854 150 1,052 902 390 1,756 1,366
December 305 5,572 5,267 5 2,921 2,916 42 981 939 258 1,670 1,412
(1) Total gross job gains and gross job losses by firm are lower
than total gross job gains and gross job losses by establishment,
as some establishment gains and losses within a firm are offset during the aggregation process.
(2) Net change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses.
(3) Net change totals for firm-level data shown differ from the establishment-level data
due to independent seasonal adjustment of the series.
NOTE: See http://www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmfirmsize.htm for additional firm size class data.
Table 5. Components of private sector gross job gains and losses by firm size, seasonally adjusted
Gross job gains and job losses Gross job gains and job losses
(in thousands) as a percent of employment
Category 3 months ended 3 months ended
Dec. Mar. June Sept Dec. Dec. Mar. June Sept Dec.
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011
Total private by firm(1)
Gross job gains 5,769 5,270 5,727 5,869 5,572 5.4 4.9 5.3 5.5 5.1
At expanding firms 4,792 4,414 4,829 4,952 4,678 4.5 4.1 4.5 4.6 4.3
At opening firms 977 856 898 917 894 .9 .8 .8 .9 .8
Gross job losses 5,267 4,970 5,214 5,122 5,267 4.9 4.7 4.8 4.8 4.9
At contracting firms 4,392 4,122 4,320 4,292 4,393 4.1 3.9 4.0 4.0 4.1
At closing firms 875 848 894 830 874 .8 .8 .8 .8 .8
Net employment change 502 300 513 747 305 .5 .2 .5 .7 .2
Firm size 1 to 49 employees
Gross job gains 3,036 2,931 3,043 3,061 2,921 9.8 9.5 9.7 9.8 9.3
At expanding firms 2,105 2,102 2,188 2,186 2,071 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.0 6.6
At opening firms 931 829 855 875 850 3.0 2.7 2.7 2.8 2.7
Gross job losses 2,962 2,836 2,869 2,854 2,916 9.6 9.1 9.2 9.2 9.3
At contracting firms 2,128 2,020 2,009 2,053 2,078 6.9 6.5 6.4 6.6 6.6
At closing firms 834 816 860 801 838 2.7 2.6 2.8 2.6 2.7
Net employment change 74 95 174 207 5 .2 .4 .5 .6 .0
Firm size 50 to 249 employees
Gross job gains 1,029 954 1,066 1,052 981 5.3 4.8 5.4 5.3 4.9
At expanding firms 990 930 1,030 1,016 945 5.1 4.7 5.2 5.1 4.7
At opening firms 39 24 36 36 36 .2 .1 .2 .2 .2
Gross job losses 942 834 892 902 939 4.8 4.2 4.5 4.5 4.7
At contracting firms 906 807 865 877 907 4.6 4.1 4.4 4.4 4.5
At closing firms 36 27 27 25 32 .2 .1 .1 .1 .2
Net employment change 87 120 174 150 42 .5 .6 .9 .8 .2
Firm size 250 or more employees
Gross job gains 1,704 1,385 1,618 1,756 1,670 3.1 2.5 2.9 3.1 2.9
At expanding firms 1,697 1,382 1,611 1,750 1,662 3.1 2.5 2.9 3.1 2.9
At opening firms 7 3 7 6 8 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
Gross job losses 1,363 1,300 1,453 1,366 1,412 2.4 2.3 2.6 2.4 2.5
At contracting firms 1,358 1,295 1,446 1,362 1,408 2.4 2.3 2.6 2.4 2.5
At closing firms 5 5 7 4 4 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
Net employment change 341 85 165 390 258 .7 .2 .3 .7 .4
(1) Total gross job gains and gross job losses by firm are lower
than total gross job gains and gross job losses by establishment,
as some establishment gains and losses within a firm are offset during the aggregation process.
Table 6. Private sector gross job gains and losses by state, seasonally adjusted
Gross job gains Gross job losses
State (3 months ended) (3 months ended)
Dec. Mar. June Sept. Dec. Dec. Mar. June Sept. Dec.
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011
United States1..... 7,009,000 6,338,000 6,892,000 7,058,000 6,854,000 6,427,000 6,086,000 6,314,000 6,305,000 6,486,000
Alabama..... 92,703 84,637 85,592 89,163 84,902 89,303 84,577 88,057 80,766 86,811
Alaska..... 23,714 23,704 26,682 24,543 22,945 25,098 21,076 23,216 23,016 26,148
Arizona..... 141,959 116,287 126,242 137,222 141,007 113,441 119,945 122,634 117,282 122,629
Arkansas..... 53,841 56,325 53,865 61,843 59,014 57,528 54,661 59,326 55,999 50,570
California..... 869,765 752,097 829,483 891,979 859,658 768,114 743,843 779,015 808,154 779,826
Colorado..... 130,478 122,766 131,469 131,059 128,595 121,381 115,795 114,903 116,008 122,675
Connecticut..... 73,952 68,916 77,071 73,048 72,755 71,930 69,652 66,307 68,789 70,840
Delaware..... 21,865 21,934 22,247 24,591 21,495 22,473 20,460 23,686 23,409 21,336
District of Columbia 27,326 32,551 28,237 25,787 25,702 24,844 21,185 25,721 24,632 24,711
Florida..... 449,196 379,849 425,637 434,967 435,381 410,096 363,736 394,012 388,491 412,001
Georgia..... 213,709 209,182 204,074 205,602 201,650 197,217 189,167 197,983 199,107 200,263
Hawaii..... 26,710 24,022 23,772 27,275 25,022 23,085 23,055 28,239 22,296 22,485
Idaho..... 40,396 35,101 37,182 41,201 37,046 38,004 37,154 37,510 33,989 37,708
Illinois..... 283,029 243,874 273,748 274,868 266,469 250,035 237,315 242,868 253,937 258,087
Indiana..... 147,601 134,570 134,642 147,420 141,985 130,056 116,631 127,648 128,058 133,390
Iowa..... 76,155 66,167 71,914 73,955 71,149 67,853 67,143 65,640 64,523 68,595
Kansas..... 71,306 59,023 63,561 66,004 65,001 59,548 60,921 62,431 61,473 61,692
Kentucky..... 92,394 81,058 86,726 88,635 87,176 80,264 83,398 80,396 78,431 81,718
Louisiana..... 104,538 101,107 96,036 105,596 99,191 101,157 91,929 103,403 88,932 96,098
Maine..... 35,285 31,923 36,874 36,194 33,038 35,153 33,587 34,606 32,251 34,945
Maryland..... 129,128 120,590 130,489 131,940 128,539 124,276 119,259 124,892 122,518 122,002
Massachusetts..... 157,256 140,586 159,052 167,845 144,205 149,093 140,876 142,030 146,737 150,404
Michigan..... 210,265 197,929 218,137 227,785 202,960 205,916 181,677 200,177 190,661 198,242
Minnesota..... 133,344 127,308 141,827 143,523 125,786 128,021 119,396 120,988 117,440 130,800
Mississippi..... 56,206 54,905 51,146 53,661 51,504 55,128 52,004 56,420 52,391 50,410
Missouri..... 125,381 124,161 128,455 128,195 135,130 118,878 121,614 122,957 127,272 122,259
Montana..... 27,412 24,773 27,613 28,498 28,859 27,464 24,600 25,488 24,128 26,620
Nebraska..... 42,503 40,626 42,236 42,691 43,312 41,662 39,873 40,384 39,740 39,971
Nevada..... 68,182 57,570 61,627 64,218 57,458 58,354 55,923 61,678 57,425 55,206
New Hampshire..... 36,320 32,184 35,249 35,229 35,786 33,028 32,166 33,877 33,518 33,721
New Jersey..... 204,445 187,187 220,220 204,955 209,431 192,833 196,954 191,595 195,289 195,955
New Mexico..... 40,203 35,792 39,688 40,942 37,164 38,293 36,000 38,632 37,790 40,290
New York..... 443,101 415,350 464,287 460,896 436,423 413,552 388,706 407,215 420,817 426,749
North Carolina..... 208,892 201,177 201,804 197,920 202,558 193,313 179,918 186,868 189,164 191,808
North Dakota..... 25,477 24,301 22,027 31,013 32,270 17,817 18,710 20,698 18,430 19,899
Ohio..... 263,829 232,634 255,425 258,434 252,833 248,000 225,754 224,156 224,984 238,467
Oklahoma..... 78,140 70,542 72,898 77,646 75,051 63,495 72,208 66,793 70,215 73,191
Oregon..... 93,768 90,387 87,393 100,035 92,624 91,329 85,528 84,050 78,502 92,328
Pennsylvania..... 287,353 256,356 276,634 264,527 276,936 255,340 245,437 249,470 265,920 245,749
Rhode Island..... 23,892 21,940 26,431 23,227 23,838 24,293 23,049 24,728 23,335 24,926
South Carolina..... 90,254 86,054 91,667 90,563 90,346 82,846 79,478 85,150 87,749 82,032
South Dakota..... 21,290 19,073 21,404 22,160 21,579 19,484 20,405 19,116 18,938 19,441
Tennessee..... 129,496 121,094 126,896 128,156 136,418 113,331 108,222 110,348 117,113 116,607
Texas..... 521,355 487,171 512,733 540,240 522,310 434,541 430,556 442,173 441,962 456,424
Utah..... 69,949 64,660 68,917 68,859 69,738 62,878 60,897 61,092 56,810 60,954
Vermont..... 19,007 15,834 18,615 18,533 20,184 16,786 17,121 18,265 18,741 16,318
Virginia..... 177,039 163,055 173,719 172,449 177,651 166,124 155,930 163,481 158,109 174,723
Washington..... 165,022 152,331 156,143 172,347 163,346 158,113 145,613 149,155 132,961 162,721
West Virginia..... 34,909 35,855 35,737 36,863 37,872 34,879 32,383 33,306 33,902 32,794
Wisconsin..... 138,480 126,622 133,862 131,978 125,731 128,104 123,857 122,475 123,201 130,742
Wyoming..... 19,363 16,627 17,857 19,903 19,756 18,449 17,712 18,183 15,437 17,401
Puerto Rico..... 45,464 36,260 38,389 41,592 45,676 37,113 41,528 41,232 36,646 37,845
Virgin Islands..... 2,417 2,134 1,848 1,772 1,845 1,774 2,192 2,836 2,213 1,920
(1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Table 7. Private sector gross job gains and losses as a percent of total employment by state, seasonally adjusted
Gross job gains as a percent of employment Gross job losses as a percent of employment
State (3 months ended) (3 months ended)
Dec. Mar. June Sept. Dec. Dec. Mar. June Sept. Dec.
2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011
United States1..... 6.6 5.9 6.4 6.5 6.3 6.1 5.7 5.8 5.9 6.0
Alabama..... 6.4 5.8 5.9 6.2 5.9 6.1 5.9 6.1 5.6 6.0
Alaska..... 10.0 9.8 11.0 10.0 9.4 10.5 8.8 9.5 9.4 10.7
Arizona..... 7.2 5.9 6.4 6.9 7.0 5.8 6.1 6.2 5.9 6.0
Arkansas..... 5.8 6.1 5.8 6.7 6.2 6.1 5.9 6.4 6.0 5.3
California..... 7.3 6.3 7.0 7.4 7.1 6.5 6.3 6.6 6.7 6.5
Colorado..... 7.2 6.8 7.2 7.1 7.0 6.7 6.4 6.2 6.3 6.6
Connecticut..... 5.4 5.1 5.7 5.3 5.3 5.3 5.2 4.8 5.0 5.2
Delaware..... 6.4 6.4 6.5 7.2 6.3 6.6 6.0 6.9 6.8 6.2
District of Columbia.. 6.2 7.2 6.2 5.7 5.6 5.6 4.7 5.6 5.4 5.4
Florida..... 7.4 6.3 7.0 7.0 7.0 6.7 6.0 6.4 6.3 6.7
Georgia..... 6.9 6.7 6.6 6.6 6.4 6.4 6.0 6.3 6.4 6.4
Hawaii..... 5.7 5.1 5.1 5.8 5.2 5.0 4.9 6.0 4.7 4.7
Idaho..... 8.2 7.1 7.5 8.3 7.4 7.7 7.5 7.6 6.8 7.5
Illinois..... 6.0 5.1 5.8 5.7 5.6 5.3 5.0 5.1 5.4 5.4
Indiana..... 6.4 5.8 5.8 6.2 6.0 5.6 5.0 5.4 5.4 5.6
Iowa..... 6.3 5.5 6.0 6.1 5.8 5.7 5.5 5.4 5.3 5.7
Kansas..... 6.8 5.6 6.1 6.2 6.1 5.7 5.7 5.9 5.9 5.8
Kentucky..... 6.5 5.8 6.1 6.2 6.1 5.7 5.9 5.7 5.5 5.7
Louisiana..... 7.0 6.7 6.3 7.0 6.5 6.8 6.1 6.9 5.9 6.4
Maine..... 7.4 6.7 7.7 7.5 6.8 7.4 7.0 7.2 6.7 7.3
Maryland..... 6.6 6.1 6.6 6.6 6.4 6.3 6.0 6.3 6.1 6.1
Massachusetts..... 5.8 5.2 5.9 6.1 5.2 5.5 5.2 5.2 5.3 5.5
Michigan..... 6.5 6.1 6.7 7.0 6.1 6.4 5.7 6.1 5.8 6.0
Minnesota..... 6.1 5.8 6.4 6.4 5.6 5.8 5.4 5.5 5.2 5.8
Mississippi..... 6.7 6.5 6.1 6.4 6.1 6.6 6.2 6.7 6.3 6.1
Missouri..... 5.9 5.8 6.0 6.0 6.3 5.6 5.7 5.7 5.9 5.7
Montana..... 8.1 7.4 8.2 8.4 8.4 8.1 7.3 7.5 7.1 7.8
Nebraska..... 5.7 5.5 5.7 5.7 5.8 5.7 5.4 5.5 5.4 5.3
Nevada..... 7.1 6.0 6.3 6.7 6.0 6.1 5.8 6.4 5.9 5.7
New Hampshire..... 7.0 6.2 6.8 6.7 6.9 6.4 6.2 6.6 6.4 6.5
New Jersey..... 6.5 5.9 7.0 6.4 6.5 6.2 6.2 6.0 6.2 6.2
New Mexico..... 6.8 6.0 6.6 6.9 6.3 6.5 6.1 6.5 6.4 6.7
New York..... 6.4 6.0 6.6 6.5 6.1 6.0 5.5 5.8 5.9 6.0
North Carolina..... 6.7 6.5 6.4 6.3 6.4 6.3 5.7 5.9 6.0 6.0
North Dakota..... 8.5 8.0 7.2 9.9 10.0 6.0 6.1 6.8 5.9 6.2
Ohio..... 6.3 5.5 6.1 6.1 5.9 5.9 5.4 5.3 5.3 5.6
Oklahoma..... 6.6 6.0 6.2 6.5 6.3 5.4 6.1 5.6 5.9 6.1
Oregon..... 7.1 6.8 6.6 7.5 6.9 6.9 6.5 6.3 5.9 6.8
Pennsylvania..... 6.0 5.4 5.8 5.5 5.7 5.4 5.1 5.2 5.5 5.1
Rhode Island..... 6.1 5.6 6.8 6.0 6.1 6.3 6.0 6.4 6.0 6.4
South Carolina..... 6.3 6.0 6.4 6.2 6.2 5.8 5.5 5.9 6.0 5.6
South Dakota..... 6.7 6.0 6.7 6.8 6.6 6.1 6.3 6.0 5.9 6.0
Tennessee..... 6.0 5.6 5.8 5.9 6.2 5.3 5.0 5.1 5.3 5.3
Texas..... 6.2 5.7 6.0 6.3 6.0 5.2 5.1 5.1 5.1 5.3
Utah..... 7.3 6.7 7.2 7.1 7.2 6.6 6.4 6.3 5.9 6.2
Vermont..... 7.9 6.5 7.7 7.7 8.3 7.0 7.1 7.6 7.7 6.7
Virginia..... 6.2 5.7 6.1 6.0 6.1 5.8 5.4 5.7 5.5 6.1
Washington..... 7.3 6.7 7.0 7.6 7.2 7.1 6.4 6.6 5.8 7.1
West Virginia..... 6.3 6.4 6.4 6.6 6.7 6.3 5.8 6.0 6.1 5.8
Wisconsin..... 6.1 5.6 5.9 5.8 5.5 5.7 5.5 5.4 5.4 5.7
Wyoming..... 9.3 8.0 8.6 9.6 9.3 8.9 8.5 8.7 7.4 8.2
Puerto Rico..... 6.8 5.4 5.8 6.2 6.8 5.5 6.2 6.2 5.4 5.6
Virgin Islands..... 7.7 6.7 5.8 5.6 6.0 5.6 6.9 9.0 7.1 6.2
(1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.
Table 8. Private sector establishment births and deaths, seasonally adjusted
Total private
(Levels in thousands)
Number of Establishments Employment
Births Deaths(1) Births Deaths
Year 3 months ended Level Rate(2) Level Rate Level Rate Level Rate
2001 March 206 3.3 203 3.2 1,187 1.1 1,303 1.2
June 204 3.2 204 3.2 1,146 1.0 1,226 1.1
September 204 3.2 207 3.3 1,151 1.1 1,219 1.1
December 194 3.1 200 3.2 1,109 1.0 1,142 1.1
2002 March 204 3.2 190 3.0 1,175 1.1 1,089 1.0
June 208 3.3 187 2.9 1,189 1.1 1,080 1.0
September 199 3.1 184 2.9 1,051 1.0 1,023 1.0
December 201 3.1 191 3.0 1,023 1.0 1,021 1.0
2003 March 193 3.0 186 2.9 1,004 .9 1,011 .9
June 191 3.0 186 2.9 964 .9 951 .9
September 193 3.0 179 2.8 954 .9 884 .8
December 200 3.1 180 2.8 998 .9 910 .9
2004 March 207 3.2 180 2.8 1,000 .9 917 .9
June 203 3.1 185 2.8 980 .9 909 .8
September 209 3.2 186 2.8 1,016 .9 953 .9
December 210 3.2 180 2.7 997 .9 894 .8
2005 March 209 3.1 185 2.8 944 .9 852 .8
June 216 3.2 180 2.7 951 .9 841 .8
September 221 3.3 186 2.8 996 .9 884 .8
December 221 3.3 186 2.8 979 .9 846 .8
2006 March 220 3.2 180 2.6 924 .8 748 .7
June 221 3.2 194 2.8 973 .9 841 .7
September 210 3.1 196 2.9 927 .8 836 .7
December 221 3.2 194 2.8 959 .8 804 .7
2007 March 214 3.1 193 2.8 896 .8 768 .7
June 206 3.0 202 2.9 883 .8 851 .7
September 216 3.1 203 2.9 944 .8 837 .7
December 208 3.0 207 3.0 903 .8 830 .7
2008 March 207 3.0 211 3.0 894 .8 810 .7
June 200 2.9 228 3.3 876 .8 934 .8
September 191 2.7 223 3.2 830 .7 881 .8
December 188 2.7 240 3.5 801 .7 953 .9
2009 March 172 2.5 235 3.4 701 .6 846 .8
June 177 2.6 226 3.3 741 .7 832 .8
September 169 2.5 215 3.2 694 .7 786 .7
December 182 2.7 200 3.0 713 .7 741 .7
2010 March 175 2.6 194 2.9 684 .7 664 .6
June 179 2.7 185 2.7 713 .7 652 .6
September 188 2.8 189 2.8 743 .7 695 .7
December 200 2.9 186 2.7 792 .7 691 .7
2011 March 183 2.7 185 2.7 660 .6 613 .6
June 187 2.7 N/A N/A 727 .7 N/A N/A
September 191 2.8 N/A N/A 763 .7 N/A N/A
December 197 2.9 N/A N/A 778 .7 N/A N/A
(1) Values for deaths are not available for the most recent three quarters
by definition. See the Technical Note for more information.
(2) The rates measure births and deaths as a percentage
of the average of the previous and current quarter employment levels or
total number of establishments.
United States Department of Labor
