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78 percent of 1st quarter 2016 employment increase occurred at firms with fewer than 50 employees

November 23, 2016

During the first three months of 2016, firms in the private sector with fewer than 50 employees had a net employment gain of 175,000. This increase represented 78 percent of the total net employment increase of 224,000 jobs over the quarter.

Gross job gains and losses by firm size, first quarter 2016, seasonally adjusted
Firm Size Gains Losses Net employment change

1-49 employees

3,020,000 -2,845,000 175,000

1-4 employees

873,000 -850,000 23,000

5-9 employees

654,000 -611,000 43,000

10-19 employees

684,000 -633,000 51,000

20-49 employees

809,000 -751,000 58,000

50-249 employees

1,002,000 -945,000 57,000

50-99 employees

487,000 -460,000 27,000

100-249 employees

515,000 -485,000 30,000

250+ employees

1,602,000 -1,610,000 -8,000

250-499 employees

311,000 -296,000 15,000

500-999 employees

254,000 -249,000 5,000

1000+ employees

1,037,000 -1,065,000 -28,000

Total

5,624,000 -5,400,000 224,000

While the smallest firms experienced a net employment gain during the quarter, the largest ones underwent a net employment loss. Firms with more than 250 employees lost 8,000 jobs during the quarter; a net decrease of 28,000 jobs among firms with more than 1,000 employees offset a net increase of 20,000 jobs at firms with 250–999 employees.

These data are from the Business Employment Dynamics program and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Business Employment Dynamics — First Quarter 2016" (HTML) (PDF). See the Frequently Asked Questions for more information on the method used to determine firm size.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, 78 percent of 1st quarter 2016 employment increase occurred at firms with fewer than 50 employees at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/78-percent-of-1st-quarter-2016-employment-increase-occurred-at-firms-with-fewer-than-50-employees.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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