From December 2016 to March 2017, gross job gains in Wisconsin totaled 143,931, while gross job losses numbered 116,833, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 27,098. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 2,762.

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 143,931 gross job gains in March 2017 followed the 134,052 gross job gains in the three-month period ended December 2016. During the past 5 years, gross job gains in Wisconsin peaked at 145,540 in December 2015 and were at a low of 124,327 in March 2014. (See chart 1.) Wisconsin’s 116,833 gross job losses in March 2017 followed the 131,290 gross job losses recorded in December 2016. Over the past 5 years, gross job losses reached a high of 139,248 in June 2016 and a low of 116,833 in March 2017. (See chart 1.) The gross job losses in March 2017 were the series low for the state.

Gross job gains represented 5.9 percent of private sector employment in Wisconsin in the quarter ended March 2017, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.0 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) Since the series inception in 1992, the rate of gross job gains in Wisconsin has been below the U.S. rate each quarter. Wisconsin’s gross job losses represented 4.8 percent of private sector employment in March 2017, compared to the U.S. rate of 5.4 percent. With only one exception, Wisconsin’s rate of gross job losses has been below the national rate since the series began.

During the first quarter of 2017, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in nine industry sectors in Wisconsin. For example, within leisure and hospitality, gross job gains exceeded gross jobs losses by 7,835. While more than 22,000 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the industry, opening and expanding establishments in the three-months ended in March 2017 created more than 30,000 jobs. Two industry sectors — retail trade and construction— had net employment gains greater than 4,400. Three other industries had net employment gains of more than 1,300. (See table 1.)

Gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in one industry sector in the first quarter of 2017. Within transportation and warehousing, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 1,187.

Wisconsin 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 6.0-percent national rate. Four states had rates of gross job losses that were below the 5.4-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, March 2017, 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	7,328,000	6.0	6,674,000	5.4	654,000	0.6
East North Central (1)	1,062,983	—	946,609	—	116,374	—
Illinois	298,256	5.8	276,590	5.4	21,666	0.4
Indiana	149,579	5.7	131,859	5.1	17,720	0.6
Michigan	211,095	5.6	184,414	5.0	26,681	0.6
Ohio	260,122	5.7	236,913	5.1	23,209	0.6
Wisconsin	143,931	5.9	116,833	4.8	27,098	1.1
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 release for second quarter 2017 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 24, 2018.

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 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, Wisconsin, 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)
	Mar. 2016	June 2016	Sept 2016	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017	Mar. 2016	June 2016	Sept 2016	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	137,502	138,276	133,986	134,052	143,931	5.6	5.7	5.5	5.5	5.9
At expanding establishments	117,430	117,041	111,232	113,086	122,029	4.8	4.8	4.6	4.6	5.0
At opening establishments	20,072	21,235	22,754	20,966	21,902	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.9	0.9
Gross job losses	127,509	139,248	134,840	131,290	116,833	5.2	5.7	5.6	5.3	4.8
At contracting establishments	110,526	119,877	116,020	110,880	102,156	4.5	4.9	4.8	4.5	4.2
At closing establishments	16,983	19,371	18,820	20,410	14,677	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	9,993	-972	-854	2,762	27,098	0.4	0.0	-0.1	0.2	1.1
Construction
Gross job gains	11,993	11,066	10,300	10,590	13,327	10.6	9.8	9.3	9.4	11.5
At expanding establishments	10,090	9,499	8,237	8,975	11,481	8.9	8.4	7.4	8.0	9.9
At opening establishments	1,903	1,567	2,063	1,615	1,846	1.7	1.4	1.9	1.4	1.6
Gross job losses	9,801	11,925	10,244	11,442	8,920	8.7	10.6	9.2	10.2	7.7
At contracting establishments	8,216	10,019	8,807	9,416	7,602	7.3	8.9	7.9	8.4	6.6
At closing establishments	1,585	1,906	1,437	2,026	1,318	1.4	1.7	1.3	1.8	1.1
Net employment change (2)	2,192	-859	56	-852	4,407	1.9	-0.8	0.1	-0.8	3.8
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	14,061	13,152	11,981	14,454	13,434	3.0	2.9	2.6	3.1	2.9
At expanding establishments	13,495	12,788	11,268	13,957	13,012	2.9	2.8	2.4	3.0	2.8
At opening establishments	566	364	713	497	422	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Gross job losses	14,489	14,167	14,663	12,773	11,550	3.1	3.1	3.2	2.8	2.4
At contracting establishments	13,510	13,287	13,765	11,973	10,911	2.9	2.9	3.0	2.6	2.3
At closing establishments	979	880	898	800	639	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.1
Net employment change (2)	-428	-1,015	-2,682	1,681	1,884	-0.1	-0.2	-0.6	0.3	0.5
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	5,142	4,966	4,947	4,889	5,271	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.2
At expanding establishments	4,396	4,550	4,216	4,270	4,585	3.5	3.7	3.4	3.5	3.7
At opening establishments	746	416	731	619	686	0.6	0.3	0.6	0.5	0.5
Gross job losses	4,617	5,117	5,102	5,280	4,371	3.7	4.1	4.2	4.3	3.5
At contracting establishments	3,769	4,216	4,401	4,086	3,599	3.0	3.4	3.6	3.3	2.9
At closing establishments	848	901	701	1,194	772	0.7	0.7	0.6	1.0	0.6
Net employment change (2)	525	-151	-155	-391	900	0.4	-0.1	-0.2	-0.3	0.7
Retail trade
Gross job gains	20,393	18,625	16,687	15,709	19,164	6.7	6.0	5.4	5.1	6.2
At expanding establishments	18,620	16,672	15,177	13,813	17,391	6.1	5.4	4.9	4.5	5.6
At opening establishments	1,773	1,953	1,510	1,896	1,773	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.6
Gross job losses	14,979	17,607	18,964	16,725	14,255	4.9	5.6	6.1	5.5	4.6
At contracting establishments	13,530	16,223	17,179	15,013	12,980	4.4	5.2	5.5	4.9	4.2
At closing establishments	1,449	1,384	1,785	1,712	1,275	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.4
Net employment change (2)	5,414	1,018	-2,277	-1,016	4,909	1.8	0.4	-0.7	-0.4	1.6
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	4,688	4,701	5,860	6,919	4,928	4.9	5.0	6.2	7.2	5.0
At expanding establishments	4,163	4,250	5,176	6,265	4,685	4.4	4.5	5.5	6.5	4.8
At opening establishments	525	451	684	654	243	0.5	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.2
Gross job losses	5,582	5,565	4,713	4,482	6,115	5.8	5.9	5.0	4.6	6.3
At contracting establishments	4,986	4,884	4,026	3,885	5,651	5.2	5.2	4.3	4.0	5.8
At closing establishments	596	681	687	597	464	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.5
Net employment change (2)	-894	-864	1,147	2,437	-1,187	-0.9	-0.9	1.2	2.6	-1.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	4,915	5,718	5,911	5,577	5,208	3.3	3.9	4.0	3.8	3.5
At expanding establishments	4,285	4,958	4,919	4,553	4,697	2.9	3.4	3.3	3.1	3.2
At opening establishments	630	760	992	1,024	511	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.7	0.3
Gross job losses	5,040	5,297	5,581	5,654	4,388	3.5	3.6	3.8	3.8	2.9
At contracting establishments	4,217	4,212	4,588	4,513	3,614	2.9	2.9	3.1	3.0	2.4
At closing establishments	823	1,085	993	1,141	774	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.5
Net employment change (2)	-125	421	330	-77	820	-0.2	0.3	0.2	0.0	0.6
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	20,426	20,815	20,091	20,062	19,932	6.5	6.5	6.3	6.2	6.2
At expanding establishments	17,386	17,961	16,989	17,509	17,086	5.5	5.6	5.3	5.4	5.3
At opening establishments	3,040	2,854	3,102	2,553	2,846	1.0	0.9	1.0	0.8	0.9
Gross job losses	21,661	22,000	19,434	20,218	18,548	6.7	6.9	6.1	6.3	5.8
At contracting establishments	18,337	18,307	16,641	16,766	16,059	5.7	5.7	5.2	5.2	5.0
At closing establishments	3,324	3,693	2,793	3,452	2,489	1.0	1.2	0.9	1.1	0.8
Net employment change (2)	-1,235	-1,185	657	-156	1,384	-0.2	-0.4	0.2	-0.1	0.4
Education and health services
Gross job gains	15,802	17,885	18,566	16,729	17,562	3.8	4.3	4.4	3.9	4.1
At expanding establishments	13,420	15,012	14,715	12,923	13,514	3.2	3.6	3.5	3.0	3.2
At opening establishments	2,382	2,873	3,851	3,806	4,048	0.6	0.7	0.9	0.9	0.9
Gross job losses	14,272	18,629	15,235	17,261	15,902	3.4	4.4	3.6	4.1	3.7
At contracting establishments	12,403	15,178	12,017	13,640	13,648	3.0	3.6	2.8	3.2	3.2
At closing establishments	1,869	3,451	3,218	3,621	2,254	0.4	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.5
Net employment change (2)	1,530	-744	3,331	-532	1,660	0.4	-0.1	0.8	-0.2	0.4
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	27,861	27,515	27,605	26,773	30,158	10.1	10.0	10.0	9.7	10.8
At expanding establishments	22,628	22,183	22,028	21,777	24,749	8.2	8.1	8.0	7.9	8.9
At opening establishments	5,233	5,332	5,577	4,996	5,409	1.9	1.9	2.0	1.8	1.9
Gross job losses	26,304	28,277	29,677	26,231	22,323	9.6	10.2	10.9	9.6	8.0
At contracting establishments	22,463	24,641	25,404	22,394	19,645	8.2	8.9	9.3	8.2	7.0
At closing establishments	3,841	3,636	4,273	3,837	2,678	1.4	1.3	1.6	1.4	1.0
Net employment change (2)	1,557	-762	-2,072	542	7,835	0.5	-0.2	-0.9	0.1	2.8
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	4,676	5,140	5,772	5,014	5,388	6.1	6.7	7.4	6.5	6.9
At expanding establishments	3,913	4,587	4,520	4,270	4,533	5.1	6.0	5.8	5.5	5.8
At opening establishments	763	553	1,252	744	855	1.0	0.7	1.6	1.0	1.1
Gross job losses	4,943	4,822	5,007	5,773	4,745	6.4	6.3	6.5	7.4	6.1
At contracting establishments	4,214	4,015	4,231	4,987	4,046	5.5	5.2	5.5	6.4	5.2
At closing establishments	729	807	776	786	699	0.9	1.1	1.0	1.0	0.9
Net employment change (2)	-267	318	765	-759	643	-0.3	0.4	0.9	-0.9	0.8
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.