From September 2022 to December 2022, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in District of Columbia were 29,047, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 28,894, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 153 jobs in the private sector during the fourth quarter of 2022. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 12,497. (See chart 1.)

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See Technical Note.)

Gross job gains

In the fourth quarter of 2022, gross job gains represented 5.6 percent of private-sector employment in the District of Columbia; nationally, gross job gains accounted for 6.2 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. In the District of Columbia, gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 23,449 in the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 3,232 jobs compared to the previous quarter. (See table 1.) Opening establishments accounted for 5,598 jobs gained in the fourth quarter of 2022, a decrease of 4,589 jobs from the previous quarter.

Gross job losses

In the fourth quarter of 2022, gross job losses represented 5.6 percent of private-sector employment in the District of Columbia; nationally, gross job losses accounted for 5.9 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 3.) Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. In the District of Columbia, contracting establishments lost 21,983 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of 2,193 jobs from the prior quarter. Closing establishments lost 6,911 jobs, an increase of 2,330 jobs from the previous quarter.

Industries

Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 2 of the 5 published industry sectors in the District of Columbia in the fourth quarter of 2022. Leisure and hospitality had the largest over-the-quarter net job increase, with a gain of 1,768 jobs. This was the result of 6,639 gross job gains and 4,871 gross job losses. The education and health services industry had a net gain of 405 jobs. Professional and business services showed a net loss of 989 jobs, the largest loss of any sector in the state.

For more information

The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector, 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. BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. Additional information is available online at www.bls.gov/bdm/.

The Business Employment Dynamics for First Quarter 2023 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, October 25, 2023.

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). The BED data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing QCEW records. Most employers in the U.S. are required to file quarterly reports on the employment and wages of workers covered by unemployment insurance (UI) laws, and to pay quarterly UI taxes. The QCEW is based largely on quarterly UI reports which are sent by businesses to the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). These UI reports are supplemented by two additional BLS data collections to render administrative data into economic statistics. Together these data comprise the QCEW and form the basis of the Bureau’s establishment universe sampling frame.

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 units and jobs lost at closing and contracting units.

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 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 employment 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 previous quarter and either not reported, or reported with zero employment, 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.

The full Technical Note for the Business Employment Dynamics program, which includes information on coverage, concepts, and methodology, can be found in the current quarterly news release online at www.bls.gov/news.release/cewbd.htm.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

#BEDTable1District of Columbia.xlsx

Table 1. Private sector gross job gains and losses by industry, District of Columbia, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains and losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	Dec. 2021	Mar. 2022	June 2022	Sept. 2022	Dec. 2022	Dec. 2021	Mar. 2022	June 2022	Sept. 2022	Dec. 2022
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	36,343	30,589	30,221	36,868	29,047	7.3	6.0	6.0	7.2	5.6
At expanding establishments	27,978	24,306	23,790	26,681	23,449	5.6	4.8	4.7	5.2	4.5
At opening establishments	8,365	6,283	6,431	10,187	5,598	1.7	1.2	1.3	2.0	1.1
Gross job losses	24,348	24,466	33,946	24,371	28,894	4.9	4.9	6.8	4.8	5.6
At contracting establishments	19,548	20,049	24,076	19,790	21,983	3.9	4.0	4.8	3.9	4.3
At closing establishments	4,800	4,417	9,870	4,581	6,911	1.0	0.9	2.0	0.9	1.3
Net employment change (2)	11,995	6,123	-3,725	12,497	153	2.4	1.1	-0.8	2.4	0.0
Financial activities
Gross job gains	1,303	1,258	1,439	1,801	1,272	5.0	4.8	5.4	6.8	5.0
At expanding establishments	920	974	1,032	1,194	989	3.5	3.7	3.9	4.5	3.9
At opening establishments	383	284	407	607	283	1.5	1.1	1.5	2.3	1.1
Gross job losses	1,240	1,141	1,719	1,249	1,363	4.7	4.3	6.5	4.7	5.4
At contracting establishments	991	843	1,075	898	964	3.8	3.2	4.1	3.4	3.8
At closing establishments	249	298	644	351	399	0.9	1.1	2.4	1.3	1.6
Net employment change (2)	63	117	-280	552	-91	0.3	0.5	-1.1	2.1	-0.4
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	12,802	10,975	10,407	13,198	9,791	7.5	6.4	6.1	7.6	5.6
At expanding establishments	9,517	8,811	8,043	8,754	7,898	5.6	5.1	4.7	5.0	4.5
At opening establishments	3,285	2,164	2,364	4,444	1,893	1.9	1.3	1.4	2.6	1.1
Gross job losses	10,132	9,046	12,357	8,799	10,780	5.9	5.3	7.1	5.1	6.1
At contracting establishments	8,188	7,010	8,327	6,930	7,965	4.8	4.1	4.8	4.0	4.5
At closing establishments	1,944	2,036	4,030	1,869	2,815	1.1	1.2	2.3	1.1	1.6
Net employment change (2)	2,670	1,929	-1,950	4,399	-989	1.6	1.1	-1.0	2.5	-0.5
Education and health services
Gross job gains	4,901	4,772	3,554	4,579	4,208	4.5	4.3	3.2	4.1	3.8
At expanding establishments	3,832	3,991	2,813	3,438	3,436	3.5	3.6	2.5	3.1	3.1
At opening establishments	1,069	781	741	1,141	772	1.0	0.7	0.7	1.0	0.7
Gross job losses	3,061	2,950	5,764	3,763	3,803	2.7	2.6	5.2	3.4	3.5
At contracting establishments	2,469	2,563	4,325	3,210	2,845	2.2	2.3	3.9	2.9	2.6
At closing establishments	592	387	1,439	553	958	0.5	0.3	1.3	0.5	0.9
Net employment change (2)	1,840	1,822	-2,210	816	405	1.8	1.7	-2.0	0.7	0.3
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	8,539	4,782	7,905	7,460	6,639	14.2	7.6	12.2	10.8	9.2
At expanding establishments	6,855	3,901	6,311	5,957	5,273	11.4	6.2	9.7	8.6	7.3
At opening establishments	1,684	881	1,594	1,503	1,366	2.8	1.4	2.5	2.2	1.9
Gross job losses	3,730	4,423	4,339	3,829	4,871	6.2	7.1	6.7	5.5	6.7
At contracting establishments	2,815	3,862	3,347	3,266	3,781	4.7	6.2	5.2	4.7	5.2
At closing establishments	915	561	992	563	1,090	1.5	0.9	1.5	0.8	1.5
Net employment change (2)	4,809	359	3,566	3,631	1,768	8.0	0.5	5.5	5.3	2.5
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	2,894	3,321	2,577	3,871	2,468	4.6	5.2	4.0	6.0	3.8
At expanding establishments	2,272	2,224	2,174	2,764	1,996	3.6	3.5	3.4	4.3	3.1
At opening establishments	622	1,097	403	1,107	472	1.0	1.7	0.6	1.7	0.7
Gross job losses	2,477	2,770	4,103	2,213	2,741	3.9	4.3	6.4	3.4	4.2
At contracting establishments	2,032	2,491	2,807	1,701	2,176	3.2	3.9	4.4	2.6	3.3
At closing establishments	445	279	1,296	512	565	0.7	0.4	2.0	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	417	551	-1,526	1,658	-273	0.7	0.9	-2.4	2.6	-0.4
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.

Table 2. Private-sector gross job gains and losses as a percent of total employment by state, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains as a percent of employment (3 months ended)					Gross job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	Dec. 2021	Mar. 2022	June 2022	Sept. 2022	Dec. 2022	Dec. 2021	Mar. 2022	June 2022	Sept. 2022	Dec. 2022
United States(1)	7.7	6.6	6.4	6.8	6.2	5.4	5.4	6.7	5.8	5.9
Alabama	7.6	6.2	6.6	7.1	6.5	5.2	6.0	7.0	6.2	6.0
Alaska	11.8	10.1	10.1	8.6	10.9	8.7	9.3	9.6	10.3	9.3
Arizona	6.8	6.8	6.7	7.9	6.7	5.0	5.7	7.3	5.5	6.1
Arkansas	7.8	5.9	5.6	6.4	6.1	4.8	5.4	6.0	5.5	5.3
California	8.5	7.4	6.6	6.7	6.5	5.5	5.6	7.2	6.1	6.6
Colorado	7.6	7.5	7.3	5.0	7.6	6.1	6.3	6.7	5.8	6.9
Connecticut	6.9	6.3	6.3	6.3	5.9	5.3	5.3	6.5	6.2	6.0
Delaware	8.2	7.3	6.5	8.6	6.7	6.0	5.6	8.2	6.1	7.6
District of Columbia	7.3	6.0	6.0	7.2	5.6	4.9	4.9	6.8	4.8	5.6
Florida	7.7	6.5	7.5	7.8	6.2	6.0	5.7	6.9	5.5	6.1
Georgia	7.9	6.8	6.6	7.0	6.5	5.5	5.7	6.7	6.0	5.9
Hawaii	7.1	6.1	5.9	6.2	6.0	5.1	5.1	5.9	4.8	4.8
Idaho	8.5	8.5	7.1	8.5	8.4	6.3	6.2	9.1	7.5	6.9
Illinois	7.5	6.2	5.9	6.0	5.4	4.9	5.0	5.9	5.3	5.2
Indiana	7.3	6.0	5.6	6.4	5.7	4.7	4.8	6.8	5.5	5.2
Iowa	6.6	6.5	5.8	5.8	6.4	5.4	5.3	6.7	6.0	6.3
Kansas	7.6	6.2	6.5	7.6	6.3	5.3	5.4	7.5	5.6	5.6
Kentucky	7.4	6.6	6.3	6.7	5.9	4.9	5.0	8.7	5.4	5.3
Louisiana	9.6	6.5	6.6	7.3	6.0	5.8	7.1	7.3	5.7	6.5
Maine	8.2	8.0	17.7	7.4	7.3	6.9	6.1	8.1	7.4	6.9
Maryland	7.3	6.6	6.7	7.5	6.4	5.3	5.9	8.1	6.0	6.7
Massachusetts	7.0	6.6	6.1	6.2	5.5	5.7	5.1	5.4	6.1	5.8
Michigan	7.5	6.3	6.0	5.7	5.9	5.2	5.1	6.5	5.9	5.2
Minnesota	7.3	6.0	6.6	6.8	6.2	5.2	5.4	7.1	6.0	6.0
Mississippi	7.9	6.1	6.5	7.2	6.8	5.7	6.0	7.0	6.3	6.2
Missouri	7.4	6.5	6.3	6.8	6.0	5.5	5.4	5.9	6.3	5.8
Montana	9.9	9.3	8.2	8.5	9.2	7.2	8.5	9.4	7.7	7.8
Nebraska	7.0	6.8	6.0	6.9	5.9	5.8	5.9	6.6	6.2	5.7
Nevada	8.3	6.8	6.9	7.6	6.4	4.8	5.2	6.7	5.7	6.2
New Hampshire	7.6	7.7	6.6	6.9	6.7	6.4	5.4	7.9	6.7	6.0
New Jersey	8.7	7.1	6.5	6.8	6.8	5.4	5.5	6.3	6.3	5.9
New Mexico	8.2	7.4	6.5	7.7	6.5	6.3	6.2	7.1	5.9	6.2
New York	7.7	6.7	7.1	6.7	6.0	5.4	5.2	6.6	6.0	6.2
North Carolina	8.1	6.5	6.3	6.6	5.9	5.0	5.3	6.2	5.9	5.4
North Dakota	7.6	7.5	6.8	7.6	6.4	6.5	6.5	6.7	6.4	6.7
Ohio	7.0	6.1	5.7	5.8	5.9	5.2	4.8	6.3	5.6	5.8
Oklahoma	7.6	6.3	6.4	7.1	6.6	5.9	5.7	6.2	5.5	6.0
Oregon	7.8	7.5	6.1	6.7	6.5	6.1	5.7	7.1	8.6	6.4
Pennsylvania	6.8	6.3	5.5	6.1	5.5	4.8	4.9	5.6	5.2	5.1
Rhode Island	8.5	7.9	7.0	6.7	6.9	6.6	5.7	7.3	7.4	6.5
South Carolina	7.9	6.9	6.4	7.3	7.0	5.3	6.2	6.9	5.6	6.2
South Dakota	7.2	7.7	6.6	7.3	6.5	5.9	6.1	6.8	6.4	6.4
Tennessee	7.3	6.6	6.3	7.0	5.8	5.6	4.7	6.4	5.4	5.7
Texas	7.7	6.3	6.5	7.4	6.2	4.8	5.4	6.1	5.2	5.3
Utah	7.5	7.8	7.0	7.9	6.8	6.0	5.9	6.8	6.7	6.6
Vermont	8.1	8.0	7.3	7.2	7.8	6.9	6.3	8.4	8.0	7.1
Virginia	7.2	6.4	6.5	7.5	6.2	5.3	5.8	7.0	6.1	5.8
Washington	7.8	7.3	7.0	7.1	5.9	5.3	5.0	7.1	6.1	5.3
West Virginia	7.9	7.3	6.3	6.8	6.7	6.0	5.9	7.9	6.5	6.6
Wisconsin	6.6	6.5	5.9	6.1	6.1	5.2	4.8	6.8	5.9	5.6
Wyoming	10.1	8.9	8.4	9.2	9.2	7.8	8.3	9.1	8.5	8.0
Puerto Rico	6.4	7.0	6.5	6.2	6.7	5.5	4.9	6.1	5.2	6.1
Virgin Islands	8.0	6.9	8.8	7.9	6.0	9.5	10.3	12.6	4.9	4.3
Footnotes (1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.