From March 2016 to June 2016, gross job losses in Illinois totaled 301,559, while gross job gains numbered 299,699, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 1,860. During the previous quarter, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 3,235.

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 301,559 gross job losses in the 3-month period ended June 2016 were more than the 274,351 losses in the previous 3-month period and represented a 5-year peak. The 299,699 gross job gains in the quarter ended June 2016, although larger than those seen in the previous quarter, remained below the recent gain of 321,551 jobs in the quarter ended December 2015. (See chart 1.)

Gross job losses represented 5.9 percent of private sector employment in Illinois in the quarter ended June 2016, while nationally gross job losses accounted for 6.0 percent of private sector employment. The rate of gross job losses in Illinois has been below the U.S. rate each quarter over the past 5 years, with one exception. The rate of gross job gains as a percent of private sector employment in Illinois was 5.9 percent, below the national rate of 6.2 percent in the quarter ended June 2016. Illinois’ rate of gross job gains has been below the national rate each quarter during the past 5 years. (See chart 2.)

During the second quarter of 2016, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in seven industry sectors in Illinois. For example, within professional and business services, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 8,126. While almost 61,000 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments in the industry, nearly 69,000 jobs were lost by closing and contracting establishments in the 3-months ended in June 2016. In construction, almost 27,000 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments while close to 32,000 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments resulting in a net employment loss of 5,060. Three other sectors—manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and other services—each had net employment losses of more than 1,000 during the second quarter of 2016. (See table 1.)

Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in four industry sectors in the second quarter of 2016. Within education and health services, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 10,993. In retail trade and leisure and hospitality, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by more than 1,000 each.

Illinois was among the five states in the East North Central Census division. Three of five states in the division had gross job losses that exceeded gross job gains. (See table A.) All five states had rates of gross job losses that were lower than the 6.0-percent national rate and rates of gross job gains that were lower than the 6.2-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 2016, 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	7,463,000	6.2	7,156,000	6.0	307,000	0.2
East North Central (1)	1,051,069	—	1,030,351	—	20,718	—
Illinois	299,699	5.9	301,559	5.9	-1,860	0.0
Indiana	137,024	5.2	134,813	5.2	2,211	0.0
Michigan	218,793	5.9	194,637	5.3	24,156	0.6
Ohio	257,809	5.6	260,094	5.6	-2,285	0.0
Wisconsin	137,744	5.7	139,248	5.7	-1,504	0.0
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 2016 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 26, 2017.

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 2015	Sept 2015	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016	June 2015	Sept 2015	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	309,300	277,259	321,551	271,116	299,699	6.1	5.4	6.4	5.3	5.9
At expanding establishments	246,301	220,108	257,544	224,198	237,056	4.9	4.3	5.1	4.4	4.7
At opening establishments	62,999	57,151	64,007	46,918	62,643	1.2	1.1	1.3	0.9	1.2
Gross job losses	261,161	291,760	283,941	274,351	301,559	5.2	5.8	5.6	5.4	5.9
At contracting establishments	211,231	233,030	226,376	221,706	246,034	4.2	4.6	4.5	4.4	4.8
At closing establishments	49,930	58,730	57,565	52,645	55,525	1.0	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.1
Net employment change (2)	48,139	-14,501	37,610	-3,235	-1,860	0.9	-0.4	0.8	-0.1	0.0
Construction
Gross job gains	28,198	25,943	27,912	28,934	26,571	13.3	12.1	12.9	13.1	12.0
At expanding establishments	22,505	21,159	22,445	24,379	21,915	10.6	9.9	10.4	11.0	9.9
At opening establishments	5,693	4,784	5,467	4,555	4,656	2.7	2.2	2.5	2.1	2.1
Gross job losses	23,571	24,598	26,797	23,366	31,631	11.1	11.4	12.4	10.5	14.3
At contracting establishments	19,090	19,784	21,187	18,853	26,194	9.0	9.2	9.8	8.5	11.8
At closing establishments	4,481	4,814	5,610	4,513	5,437	2.1	2.2	2.6	2.0	2.5
Net employment change (2)	4,627	1,345	1,115	5,568	-5,060	2.2	0.7	0.5	2.6	-2.3
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	17,777	15,670	17,700	15,808	18,114	3.0	2.7	3.1	2.8	3.2
At expanding establishments	15,362	13,111	14,398	13,670	15,851	2.6	2.3	2.5	2.4	2.8
At opening establishments	2,415	2,559	3,302	2,138	2,263	0.4	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.4
Gross job losses	17,969	19,717	19,571	17,722	20,610	3.1	3.4	3.4	3.1	3.6
At contracting establishments	15,164	16,637	17,055	15,324	17,991	2.6	2.9	3.0	2.7	3.1
At closing establishments	2,805	3,080	2,516	2,398	2,619	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.5
Net employment change (2)	-192	-4,047	-1,871	-1,914	-2,496	-0.1	-0.7	-0.3	-0.3	-0.4
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	14,453	12,369	13,710	10,989	12,858	4.8	4.1	4.5	3.6	4.3
At expanding establishments	12,256	10,228	11,265	9,376	10,587	4.1	3.4	3.7	3.1	3.5
At opening establishments	2,197	2,141	2,445	1,613	2,271	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.5	0.8
Gross job losses	11,656	13,115	12,496	11,848	11,881	3.9	4.3	4.1	3.9	4.0
At contracting establishments	9,007	10,567	9,924	9,073	9,214	3.0	3.5	3.3	3.0	3.1
At closing establishments	2,649	2,548	2,572	2,775	2,667	0.9	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.9
Net employment change (2)	2,797	-746	1,214	-859	977	0.9	-0.2	0.4	-0.3	0.3
Retail trade
Gross job gains	37,958	35,643	32,160	34,314	36,219	6.2	5.7	5.3	5.5	5.9
At expanding establishments	33,139	31,055	28,029	29,900	29,672	5.4	5.0	4.6	4.8	4.8
At opening establishments	4,819	4,588	4,131	4,414	6,547	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.7	1.1
Gross job losses	29,424	35,166	37,101	31,102	33,019	4.8	5.6	6.0	5.1	5.3
At contracting establishments	25,133	31,155	32,734	26,974	29,150	4.1	5.0	5.3	4.4	4.7
At closing establishments	4,291	4,011	4,367	4,128	3,869	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6
Net employment change (2)	8,534	477	-4,941	3,212	3,200	1.4	0.1	-0.7	0.4	0.6
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	12,923	11,471	16,541	11,209	11,858	5.4	4.8	6.8	4.6	4.8
At expanding establishments	10,780	9,415	13,706	9,584	9,605	4.5	3.9	5.6	3.9	3.9
At opening establishments	2,143	2,056	2,835	1,625	2,253	0.9	0.9	1.2	0.7	0.9
Gross job losses	9,835	11,203	11,683	13,691	13,701	4.1	4.6	4.8	5.6	5.6
At contracting establishments	8,734	8,760	8,972	11,292	11,714	3.6	3.6	3.7	4.6	4.8
At closing establishments	1,101	2,443	2,711	2,399	1,987	0.5	1.0	1.1	1.0	0.8
Net employment change (2)	3,088	268	4,858	-2,482	-1,843	1.3	0.2	2.0	-1.0	-0.8
Information
Gross job gains	4,929	5,108	5,127	4,250	5,253	4.9	5.1	5.1	4.3	5.4
At expanding establishments	3,982	3,926	4,115	3,501	4,489	4.0	3.9	4.1	3.5	4.6
At opening establishments	947	1,182	1,012	749	764	0.9	1.2	1.0	0.8	0.8
Gross job losses	4,464	5,155	4,894	4,927	5,520	4.4	5.1	4.9	5.0	5.7
At contracting establishments	3,657	4,364	4,015	4,038	4,183	3.6	4.3	4.0	4.1	4.3
At closing establishments	807	791	879	889	1,337	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.9	1.4
Net employment change (2)	465	-47	233	-677	-267	0.5	0.0	0.2	-0.7	-0.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	16,922	14,345	15,892	14,030	16,620	4.7	3.9	4.4	3.9	4.5
At expanding establishments	13,338	10,886	11,973	10,837	13,551	3.7	3.0	3.3	3.0	3.7
At opening establishments	3,584	3,459	3,919	3,193	3,069	1.0	0.9	1.1	0.9	0.8
Gross job losses	13,418	15,558	15,977	14,012	16,727	3.7	4.2	4.4	3.8	4.6
At contracting establishments	10,779	12,150	12,003	10,654	13,157	3.0	3.3	3.3	2.9	3.6
At closing establishments	2,639	3,408	3,974	3,358	3,570	0.7	0.9	1.1	0.9	1.0
Net employment change (2)	3,504	-1,213	-85	18	-107	1.0	-0.3	0.0	0.1	-0.1
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	67,122	61,554	72,262	59,477	60,529	7.3	6.7	7.8	6.4	6.5
At expanding establishments	52,338	46,743	56,123	48,085	49,047	5.7	5.1	6.1	5.2	5.3
At opening establishments	14,784	14,811	16,139	11,392	11,482	1.6	1.6	1.7	1.2	1.2
Gross job losses	60,518	63,714	62,661	61,067	68,655	6.6	6.9	6.8	6.6	7.4
At contracting establishments	46,084	50,538	48,062	49,205	54,121	5.0	5.5	5.2	5.3	5.8
At closing establishments	14,434	13,176	14,599	11,862	14,534	1.6	1.4	1.6	1.3	1.6
Net employment change (2)	6,604	-2,160	9,601	-1,590	-8,126	0.7	-0.2	1.0	-0.2	-0.9
Education and health services
Gross job gains	35,521	34,017	41,968	31,110	43,483	4.1	3.9	4.7	3.5	4.8
At expanding establishments	29,642	28,966	36,480	26,723	30,750	3.4	3.3	4.1	3.0	3.4
At opening establishments	5,879	5,051	5,488	4,387	12,733	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5	1.4
Gross job losses	29,477	38,704	31,903	34,308	32,490	3.3	4.3	3.6	3.8	3.7
At contracting establishments	24,747	26,949	25,064	28,064	26,450	2.8	3.0	2.8	3.1	3.0
At closing establishments	4,730	11,755	6,839	6,244	6,040	0.5	1.3	0.8	0.7	0.7
Net employment change (2)	6,044	-4,687	10,065	-3,198	10,993	0.8	-0.4	1.1	-0.3	1.1
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	54,320	43,844	57,532	45,087	49,177	9.5	7.6	9.8	7.6	8.3
At expanding establishments	39,978	32,954	45,109	35,717	38,732	7.0	5.7	7.7	6.0	6.5
At opening establishments	14,342	10,890	12,423	9,370	10,445	2.5	1.9	2.1	1.6	1.8
Gross job losses	43,382	47,292	43,954	46,082	47,911	7.6	8.2	7.6	7.8	8.1
At contracting establishments	35,387	38,819	34,887	36,623	39,659	6.2	6.7	6.0	6.2	6.7
At closing establishments	7,995	8,473	9,067	9,459	8,252	1.4	1.5	1.6	1.6	1.4
Net employment change (2)	10,938	-3,448	13,578	-995	1,266	1.9	-0.6	2.2	-0.2	0.2
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	12,759	11,345	12,725	10,781	12,056	6.6	5.9	6.5	5.6	6.3
At expanding establishments	9,707	8,909	9,742	9,048	9,179	5.0	4.6	5.0	4.7	4.8
At opening establishments	3,052	2,436	2,983	1,733	2,877	1.6	1.3	1.5	0.9	1.5
Gross job losses	12,207	12,473	12,191	11,166	13,451	6.3	6.5	6.3	5.8	7.0
At contracting establishments	9,557	9,435	9,292	8,146	10,134	4.9	4.9	4.8	4.2	5.3
At closing establishments	2,650	3,038	2,899	3,020	3,317	1.4	1.6	1.5	1.6	1.7
Net employment change (2)	552	-1,128	534	-385	-1,395	0.3	-0.6	0.2	-0.2	-0.7
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.