From March 2015 to June 2015 gross job gains in Illinois totaled 309,794, while gross job losses numbered 263,025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 46,769. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 2,032.

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.)

The number of gross job gains in the quarter ended June 2015, although larger than those seen in the previous quarter, remained below the recent gain of 311,522 jobs in the quarter ended December 2014. Illinois’ gross job gains have remained above 270,000 each quarter since March 2013. The 263,025 gross job losses in the 3-month period ended June 2015 were less than the 287,323 losses in the previous 3-month period. During the past 5 years, gross job losses peaked at 288,307 in the quarter ended September 2014 and were at a low of 232,270 in the quarter ended June 2010. (See chart 1.)

Gross job gains represented 6.2 percent of private sector employment in Illinois in the quarter ended June 2015, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.4 percent of private sector employment. Over the past 5 years, the rate of gross job gains in Illinois has been below the U.S. rate each quarter. The Illinois rate of gross job losses as a percent of private sector employment was 5.2 percent, below the national rate of 5.7 percent in the quarter ended June 2015. Illinois’ job rate of gross losses has been equal to or below the national rate during the past 5 years. (See chart 2.)

During the second quarter of 2015, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 10 industry sectors in Illinois. For example, within leisure and hospitality, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 10,287. While more than 44,000 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the industry, almost 55,000 jobs were created by opening and expanding establishments in the 3-months ended in June 2015. In retail trade, approximately 38,000 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and more than 29,000 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments. Two other sectors—professional and business services (6,155) and education and health services (6,110) also recorded net employment gains greater than 6,000 during the second quarter. (See table 1.)

Manufacturing was the only industry that had a net employment loss in the second quarter of 2015. Opening and expanding establishments added 17,792 jobs, but 18,934 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the industry, resulting in a net employment loss of 1,142.

Illinois was among the five states in the East North Central Census division. All five states in the division had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. (See table A.) All five states had rates of gross job gains that were lower than the 6.4-percent national rate and rates of gross job losses that were lower than the 5.7-percent national rate.

Table A. Private sector gross job gains and losses for the United States, East North Central Division, and East North Central states, June 2015, 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	7,554,000	6.4	6,725,000	5.7	829,000	0.7
East North Central (1)	1,084,394	—	944,035	—	140,359	—
Illinois	309,794	6.2	263,025	5.2	46,769	1.0
Indiana	146,088	5.7	130,145	5.1	15,943	0.6
Michigan	219,556	6.1	187,213	5.2	32,343	0.9
Ohio	272,264	6.0	237,460	5.3	34,804	0.7
Wisconsin	136,692	5.7	126,192	5.2	10,500	0.5
Footnotes: (1) Data were calculated for this release using published gross job gains and gross job losses for states located in the East 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 for third quarter 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 27, 2016.

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 second 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, Illinois, 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)
	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	303,626	283,715	311,522	289,355	309,794	6.2	5.7	6.2	5.8	6.2
At expanding establishments	250,949	229,951	245,910	226,103	246,709	5.1	4.6	4.9	4.5	4.9
At opening establishments	52,677	53,764	65,612	63,252	63,085	1.1	1.1	1.3	1.3	1.3
Gross job losses	270,682	288,307	274,821	287,323	263,025	5.5	5.8	5.5	5.7	5.2
At contracting establishments	212,033	231,820	215,992	227,500	212,865	4.3	4.7	4.3	4.5	4.2
At closing establishments	58,649	56,487	58,829	59,823	50,160	1.2	1.1	1.2	1.2	1.0
Net employment change (2)	32,944	-4,592	36,701	2,032	46,769	0.7	-0.1	0.7	0.1	1.0
Construction
Gross job gains	28,267	26,406	26,907	26,862	28,041	14.1	13.0	13.0	12.8	13.2
At expanding establishments	22,583	21,280	21,172	21,317	22,439	11.3	10.5	10.2	10.2	10.6
At opening establishments	5,684	5,126	5,735	5,545	5,602	2.8	2.5	2.8	2.6	2.6
Gross job losses	23,954	22,109	24,519	25,329	23,731	12.0	10.9	11.9	12.0	11.2
At contracting establishments	18,974	17,243	19,595	19,836	19,231	9.5	8.5	9.5	9.4	9.1
At closing establishments	4,980	4,866	4,924	5,493	4,500	2.5	2.4	2.4	2.6	2.1
Net employment change (2)	4,313	4,297	2,388	1,533	4,310	2.1	2.1	1.1	0.8	2.0
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	19,321	17,651	20,679	18,212	17,792	3.3	3.0	3.6	3.1	3.0
At expanding establishments	17,060	15,717	17,169	14,728	15,236	2.9	2.7	3.0	2.5	2.6
At opening establishments	2,261	1,934	3,510	3,484	2,556	0.4	0.3	0.6	0.6	0.4
Gross job losses	20,053	20,118	17,782	17,519	18,934	3.4	3.5	3.0	3.0	3.2
At contracting establishments	17,603	16,527	14,676	14,853	16,399	3.0	2.9	2.5	2.5	2.8
At closing establishments	2,450	3,591	3,106	2,666	2,535	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.4
Net employment change (2)	-732	-2,467	2,897	693	-1,142	-0.1	-0.5	0.6	0.1	-0.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	14,098	12,793	13,556	13,042	14,458	4.7	4.3	4.5	4.3	4.8
At expanding establishments	11,447	10,211	10,752	10,524	12,393	3.8	3.4	3.6	3.5	4.1
At opening establishments	2,651	2,582	2,804	2,518	2,065	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.7
Gross job losses	13,571	12,966	11,612	13,141	11,638	4.5	4.3	3.8	4.3	3.8
At contracting establishments	10,135	10,239	8,481	10,311	9,087	3.4	3.4	2.8	3.4	3.0
At closing establishments	3,436	2,727	3,131	2,830	2,551	1.1	0.9	1.0	0.9	0.8
Net employment change (2)	527	-173	1,944	-99	2,820	0.2	0.0	0.7	0.0	1.0
Retail trade
Gross job gains	41,089	32,765	34,017	35,042	37,807	6.7	5.3	5.6	5.7	6.2
At expanding establishments	36,085	28,281	28,976	30,032	33,107	5.9	4.6	4.8	4.9	5.4
At opening establishments	5,004	4,484	5,041	5,010	4,700	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8
Gross job losses	30,475	35,301	32,764	33,431	29,190	5.0	5.8	5.4	5.5	4.7
At contracting establishments	25,384	30,961	28,078	28,421	24,779	4.2	5.1	4.6	4.7	4.0
At closing establishments	5,091	4,340	4,686	5,010	4,411	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.7
Net employment change (2)	10,614	-2,536	1,253	1,611	8,617	1.7	-0.5	0.2	0.2	1.5
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	12,043	12,819	16,204	11,420	12,926	5.2	5.5	6.8	4.8	5.4
At expanding establishments	9,789	10,765	13,806	9,101	10,803	4.2	4.6	5.8	3.8	4.5
At opening establishments	2,254	2,054	2,398	2,319	2,123	1.0	0.9	1.0	1.0	0.9
Gross job losses	10,399	10,254	11,334	13,239	9,926	4.5	4.4	4.8	5.5	4.2
At contracting establishments	8,416	8,092	8,784	11,217	8,774	3.6	3.5	3.7	4.7	3.7
At closing establishments	1,983	2,162	2,550	2,022	1,152	0.9	0.9	1.1	0.8	0.5
Net employment change (2)	1,644	2,565	4,870	-1,819	3,000	0.7	1.1	2.0	-0.7	1.2
Information
Gross job gains	5,156	4,302	5,555	5,603	4,902	5.2	4.4	5.6	5.7	4.9
At expanding establishments	4,559	3,255	4,319	4,445	3,991	4.6	3.3	4.4	4.5	4.0
At opening establishments	597	1,047	1,236	1,158	911	0.6	1.1	1.2	1.2	0.9
Gross job losses	4,190	4,797	5,065	4,599	4,612	4.2	4.8	5.1	4.6	4.6
At contracting establishments	2,955	3,594	3,972	3,289	3,594	3.0	3.6	4.0	3.3	3.6
At closing establishments	1,235	1,203	1,093	1,310	1,018	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.3	1.0
Net employment change (2)	966	-495	490	1,004	290	1.0	-0.4	0.5	1.1	0.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	15,306	17,278	16,449	15,130	16,669	4.4	4.9	4.7	4.2	4.6
At expanding establishments	12,634	14,104	12,706	11,163	13,267	3.6	4.0	3.6	3.1	3.7
At opening establishments	2,672	3,174	3,743	3,967	3,402	0.8	0.9	1.1	1.1	0.9
Gross job losses	16,260	16,638	16,623	14,714	13,543	4.6	4.7	4.7	4.0	3.7
At contracting establishments	12,658	12,266	12,827	11,317	10,851	3.6	3.5	3.6	3.1	3.0
At closing establishments	3,602	4,372	3,796	3,397	2,692	1.0	1.2	1.1	0.9	0.7
Net employment change (2)	-954	640	-174	416	3,126	-0.2	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.9
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	65,690	61,681	74,918	64,399	66,160	7.1	6.7	8.1	7.1	7.2
At expanding establishments	54,430	49,498	59,126	50,043	51,720	5.9	5.4	6.4	5.5	5.6
At opening establishments	11,260	12,183	15,792	14,356	14,440	1.2	1.3	1.7	1.6	1.6
Gross job losses	57,385	63,431	64,339	65,915	60,005	6.2	6.9	7.0	7.2	6.6
At contracting establishments	42,400	50,481	49,716	53,451	45,662	4.6	5.5	5.4	5.8	5.0
At closing establishments	14,985	12,950	14,623	12,464	14,343	1.6	1.4	1.6	1.4	1.6
Net employment change (2)	8,305	-1,750	10,579	-1,516	6,155	0.9	-0.2	1.1	-0.1	0.6
Education and health services
Gross job gains	35,271	33,995	35,515	33,132	35,941	4.0	3.9	4.0	3.8	4.1
At expanding establishments	29,864	29,017	29,208	26,423	30,068	3.4	3.3	3.3	3.0	3.4
At opening establishments	5,407	4,978	6,307	6,709	5,873	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.8	0.7
Gross job losses	33,624	34,520	31,701	35,466	29,831	3.9	3.9	3.6	4.0	3.4
At contracting establishments	26,077	28,881	23,943	28,546	24,899	3.0	3.3	2.7	3.2	2.8
At closing establishments	7,547	5,639	7,758	6,920	4,932	0.9	0.6	0.9	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	1,647	-525	3,814	-2,334	6,110	0.1	0.0	0.4	-0.2	0.7
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	48,601	45,330	48,423	47,004	54,576	8.7	8.1	8.6	8.3	9.6
At expanding establishments	37,858	34,620	34,807	34,950	40,544	6.8	6.2	6.2	6.2	7.1
At opening establishments	10,743	10,710	13,616	12,054	14,032	1.9	1.9	2.4	2.1	2.5
Gross job losses	43,600	49,470	42,293	46,831	44,289	7.8	8.8	7.6	8.3	7.8
At contracting establishments	34,494	39,221	34,160	33,826	36,336	6.2	7.0	6.1	6.0	6.4
At closing establishments	9,106	10,249	8,133	13,005	7,953	1.6	1.8	1.5	2.3	1.4
Net employment change (2)	5,001	-4,140	6,130	173	10,287	0.9	-0.7	1.0	0.0	1.8
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	14,175	12,626	13,072	13,667	12,595	7.3	6.6	6.8	7.0	6.5
At expanding establishments	11,150	9,804	9,799	10,111	9,649	5.7	5.1	5.1	5.2	5.0
At opening establishments	3,025	2,822	3,273	3,556	2,946	1.6	1.5	1.7	1.8	1.5
Gross job losses	12,801	14,419	12,423	11,880	12,126	6.6	7.5	6.4	6.2	6.3
At contracting establishments	9,920	11,349	9,183	8,676	9,466	5.1	5.9	4.7	4.5	4.9
At closing establishments	2,881	3,070	3,240	3,204	2,660	1.5	1.6	1.7	1.7	1.4
Net employment change (2)	1,374	-1,793	649	1,787	469	0.7	-0.9	0.4	0.8	0.2
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.