From September 2014 to December 2014 gross job gains in South Dakota totaled 21,356, while gross job losses numbered 19,843, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 1,513. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 587.

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 21,356 gross job gains from September 2014 to December 2014 were 590 more than 20,766 gross job gains in the previous three-month period. The state’s gross job gains have remained above 20,000 since June 2011, and have exceeded 22,000 on three occasions. (See chart 1.) The state’s 19,843 gross job losses in the fourth quarter of 2014 were 336 fewer than in the previous quarter. During the most recent five-year period, job losses in the state peaked in March 2010 when more than 21,000 jobs were lost.

Gross job gains represented 6.3 percent of private sector employment in South Dakota in the quarter ended December 2014; nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.6 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) During the past five years, the rate of gross job gains as a percent of private sector employment in South Dakota has generally exceeded the U.S. rate. In the fourth quarter of 2014, South Dakota’s rate of gross job losses as a percent of private sector employment was 5.8 percent compared to the national rate of 5.6 percent. South Dakota’s rate of gross job losses has been above the U.S. rate in all but two quarters over the past five years. (See chart 2.)

During the fourth quarter 2014, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in four industry sectors in South Dakota. For example, opening and expanding establishments in leisure and hospitality created more than 5,200 jobs during the period, though nearly 4,800 jobs were lost at closing and contracting establishments. The resulting net gain of 499 jobs was the largest of any sector in the fourth quarter of 2014. In construction, almost 3,000 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and more than 2,700 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments. Other industries showing net job gains were wholesale trade and other services. (See table 1.)

In contrast, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in three industry sectors. Within financial activities, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 131. Among the two other sectors—professional and business services and retail trade—gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by less than 100 in each.

South Dakota was among the seven states in the West North Central Census division. All seven states in the division had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. (See table A.) Six states, including South Dakota, had rates of gross job gains that were lower than the 6.6-percent national rate. Only North Dakota had a rate of gross job gains that was higher than the national rate. Three states (Kansas, Minnesota, and Missouri) had rates of gross job losses that were below the 5.6-percent national rate. Two states (North Dakota and South Dakota) had rates of gross job losses that were higher than the national rate and two states (Iowa and Nebraska) had rates of gross job losses that were equal to the national rate.

Table A. Private sector job gains and losses for the United States, West North Central Division, and West North Central states, December 2014, 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	7,635,000	6.6	6,526,000	5.6	1,109,000	1.0
West North Central(1)	532,052	—	466,918	—	65,134	—
Iowa	77,791	6.1	71,592	5.6	6,199	0.5
Kansas	70,016	6.2	59,244	5.3	10,772	0.9
Minnesota	137,598	5.8	129,787	5.4	7,811	0.4
Missouri	142,836	6.3	116,244	5.1	26,592	1.2
Nebraska	49,466	6.2	44,487	5.6	4,979	0.6
North Dakota	32,989	8.7	25,721	6.7	7,268	2.0
South Dakota	21,356	6.3	19,843	5.8	1,513	0.5
Footnotes: (1) Data were calculated for this release using published gross job gains and gross job losses for the 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 2015 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 18, 2015.

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. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Dec. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	22,932	21,356	21,583	20,766	21,356	6.9	6.3	6.4	6.2	6.3
At expanding establishments	19,301	17,647	17,995	17,177	17,708	5.8	5.2	5.3	5.1	5.2
At opening establishments	3,631	3,709	3,588	3,589	3,648	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1
Gross job losses	20,102	20,435	20,238	20,179	19,843	6.0	6.1	6.0	6.0	5.8
At contracting establishments	16,473	17,150	16,907	17,295	16,665	4.9	5.1	5.0	5.1	4.9
At closing establishments	3,629	3,285	3,331	2,884	3,178	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9
Net employment change (2)	2,830	921	1,345	587	1,513	0.9	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.5
Construction
Gross job gains	3,202	2,790	2,931	2,605	2,919	15.4	13.1	13.8	12.3	13.6
At expanding establishments	2,522	2,125	2,337	1,824	2,302	12.1	10.0	11.0	8.6	10.7
At opening establishments	680	665	594	781	617	3.3	3.1	2.8	3.7	2.9
Gross job losses	2,886	2,762	2,384	2,625	2,731	13.8	13.0	11.2	12.4	12.7
At contracting establishments	2,295	2,209	1,764	2,038	2,200	11.0	10.4	8.3	9.6	10.2
At closing establishments	591	553	620	587	531	2.8	2.6	2.9	2.8	2.5
Net employment change (2)	316	28	547	-20	188	1.6	0.1	2.6	-0.1	0.9
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	1,099	1,153	1,159	1,015	1,075	5.5	5.6	5.6	4.8	5.2
At expanding establishments	993	1,045	1,021	859	915	5.0	5.1	4.9	4.1	4.4
At opening establishments	106	108	138	156	160	0.5	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.8
Gross job losses	827	914	827	1,015	947	4.1	4.4	4.0	4.9	4.5
At contracting establishments	702	802	712	895	837	3.5	3.9	3.4	4.3	4.0
At closing establishments	125	112	115	120	110	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.5
Net employment change (2)	272	239	332	0	128	1.4	1.2	1.6	-0.1	0.7
Retail trade
Gross job gains	3,100	3,068	2,964	3,295	2,812	6.0	5.9	5.7	6.3	5.4
At expanding establishments	2,673	2,747	2,602	2,928	2,467	5.2	5.3	5.0	5.6	4.7
At opening establishments	427	321	362	367	345	0.8	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.7
Gross job losses	2,959	2,791	2,627	2,931	2,841	5.7	5.4	5.0	5.7	5.5
At contracting establishments	2,637	2,457	2,292	2,743	2,535	5.1	4.8	4.4	5.3	4.9
At closing establishments	322	334	335	188	306	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.6
Net employment change (2)	141	277	337	364	-29	0.3	0.5	0.7	0.6	-0.1
Financial activities
Gross job gains	1,036	817	983	956	954	3.5	2.8	3.4	3.3	3.3
At expanding establishments	868	680	848	806	748	2.9	2.3	2.9	2.8	2.6
At opening establishments	168	137	135	150	206	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.7
Gross job losses	935	1,171	1,001	1,084	1,085	3.2	4.0	3.5	3.7	3.8
At contracting establishments	771	1,035	896	959	952	2.6	3.5	3.1	3.3	3.3
At closing establishments	164	136	105	125	133	0.6	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.5
Net employment change (2)	101	-354	-18	-128	-131	0.3	-1.2	-0.1	-0.4	-0.5
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	3,136	2,110	2,605	2,120	2,293	10.4	7.0	8.6	7.0	7.6
At expanding establishments	2,542	1,656	2,083	1,646	1,734	8.4	5.5	6.9	5.4	5.7
At opening establishments	594	454	522	474	559	2.0	1.5	1.7	1.6	1.9
Gross job losses	2,302	2,456	2,088	2,389	2,389	7.6	8.2	6.9	7.9	7.9
At contracting establishments	1,786	1,953	1,421	1,969	1,973	5.9	6.5	4.7	6.5	6.5
At closing establishments	516	503	667	420	416	1.7	1.7	2.2	1.4	1.4
Net employment change (2)	834	-346	517	-269	-96	2.8	-1.2	1.7	-0.9	-0.3
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	5,412	5,337	4,796	5,195	5,249	12.1	11.6	10.6	11.5	11.4
At expanding establishments	4,479	4,035	3,631	4,226	4,180	10.0	8.8	8.0	9.4	9.1
At opening establishments	933	1,302	1,165	969	1,069	2.1	2.8	2.6	2.1	2.3
Gross job losses	4,617	4,773	5,865	4,603	4,750	10.2	10.4	12.9	10.2	10.4
At contracting establishments	3,563	3,772	5,027	3,818	3,850	7.9	8.2	11.1	8.5	8.4
At closing establishments	1,054	1,001	838	785	900	2.3	2.2	1.8	1.7	2.0
Net employment change (2)	795	564	-1,069	592	499	1.9	1.2	-2.3	1.3	1.0
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	780	784	833	689	841	7.6	7.6	8.0	6.6	8.2
At expanding establishments	637	679	716	565	721	6.2	6.6	6.9	5.4	7.0
At opening establishments	143	105	117	124	120	1.4	1.0	1.1	1.2	1.2
Gross job losses	745	636	659	905	797	7.2	6.2	6.3	8.7	7.7
At contracting establishments	621	536	542	762	660	6.0	5.2	5.2	7.3	6.4
At closing establishments	124	100	117	143	137	1.2	1.0	1.1	1.4	1.3
Net employment change (2)	35	148	174	-216	44	0.4	1.4	1.7	-2.1	0.5
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.