From December 2018 to March 2019, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in Wisconsin totaled 127,951, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments numbered 120,014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 7,937 from the fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 11,859. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

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. 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.)

Wisconsin’s 127,951 gross job gains in the first quarter of 2019 were below the 134,830 gross job gains in the previous quarter. The 120,014 gross job losses in the first quarter of 2019 were lower than the 122,971 gross job losses recorded in the fourth quarter of 2018. (See chart 1.)

Gross job gains represented 5.1 percent of private sector employment in Wisconsin in the first quarter of 2019; nationally, gross job gains accounted for 5.9 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) Wisconsin’s gross job losses represented 4.8 percent of private sector employment in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the U.S. rate of 5.5 percent.

During the first quarter of 2019, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 9 of the 10 industry sectors in Wisconsin. The leisure and hospitality industry created almost 28,000 jobs in opening and expanding establishments, but lost nearly 25,000 jobs in closing and contracting establishments. The resulting net gain of 2,841 jobs was the largest of any sector in Wisconsin in the first quarter of 2019. Construction and professional and business services had net employment gains of 1,238 and 1,021 respectively. Among the six other sectors with net employment gains, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by less than 850.

In contrast, the transportation and warehousing industry had gross job losses that exceeded gross job gains, resulting in a net employment loss of 1,317 jobs.  (See table 1.)

Each of the five states in the East North Central Census division had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. (See table A.) Indiana’s 5.9-percent rate of gross job gains matched the national rate. Wisconsin was among the four states that had rates of gross job gains that were lower than the national rate. All states in the division had rates of gross job losses that were below the 5.5-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 2019, 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	7,375,000	5.9	6,850,000	5.5	525,000	0.4
East North Central (1)	1,010,181	—	936,226	—	73,955	—
Illinois	273,000	5.2	268,937	5.1	4,063	0.1
Indiana	156,880	5.9	129,593	4.8	27,287	1.1
Michigan	193,954	5.1	175,917	4.6	18,037	0.5
Ohio	258,396	5.5	241,765	5.1	16,631	0.4
Wisconsin	127,951	5.1	120,014	4.8	7,937	0.3
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 2019 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 29, 2020.

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. 2018	June 2018	Sept 2018	Dec. 2018	Mar. 2019	Mar. 2018	June 2018	Sept 2018	Dec. 2018	Mar. 2019
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	140,206	136,299	126,775	134,830	127,951	5.6	5.5	5.1	5.4	5.1
At expanding establishments	119,912	117,473	107,352	115,175	108,697	4.8	4.7	4.3	4.6	4.3
At opening establishments	20,294	18,826	19,423	19,655	19,254	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.8
Gross job losses	116,847	138,290	145,097	122,971	120,014	4.7	5.5	5.9	5.0	4.8
At contracting establishments	101,922	120,677	123,562	103,813	104,646	4.1	4.8	5.0	4.2	4.2
At closing establishments	14,925	17,613	21,535	19,158	15,368	0.6	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	23,359	-1,991	-18,322	11,859	7,937	0.9	0.0	-0.8	0.4	0.3
Construction
Gross job gains	13,218	11,675	9,956	10,641	11,433	10.8	9.4	8.2	8.7	9.2
At expanding establishments	10,797	10,051	8,382	8,794	9,484	8.8	8.1	6.9	7.2	7.6
At opening establishments	2,421	1,624	1,574	1,847	1,949	2.0	1.3	1.3	1.5	1.6
Gross job losses	8,889	10,797	12,124	10,933	10,195	7.2	8.7	10.0	8.9	8.2
At contracting establishments	7,571	9,108	9,923	8,964	8,605	6.1	7.3	8.2	7.3	6.9
At closing establishments	1,318	1,689	2,201	1,969	1,590	1.1	1.4	1.8	1.6	1.3
Net employment change (2)	4,329	878	-2,168	-292	1,238	3.6	0.7	-1.8	-0.2	1.0
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	14,047	14,567	12,765	14,991	12,208	3.0	3.1	2.7	3.1	2.5
At expanding establishments	13,481	14,140	11,866	14,565	11,589	2.9	3.0	2.5	3.0	2.4
At opening establishments	566	427	899	426	619	0.1	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1
Gross job losses	10,763	12,362	13,360	10,588	11,910	2.3	2.6	2.8	2.2	2.4
At contracting establishments	10,253	11,239	12,748	9,872	11,269	2.2	2.4	2.7	2.1	2.3
At closing establishments	510	1,123	612	716	641	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1
Net employment change (2)	3,284	2,205	-595	4,403	298	0.7	0.5	-0.1	0.9	0.1
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	5,404	5,449	4,833	5,351	4,760	4.3	4.3	3.8	4.2	3.9
At expanding establishments	4,675	4,818	4,189	4,720	4,275	3.7	3.8	3.3	3.7	3.5
At opening establishments	729	631	644	631	485	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.4
Gross job losses	4,872	4,471	5,491	4,233	4,615	3.8	3.5	4.2	3.4	3.7
At contracting establishments	3,932	3,749	4,534	3,397	3,852	3.1	2.9	3.5	2.7	3.1
At closing establishments	940	722	957	836	763	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6
Net employment change (2)	532	978	-658	1,118	145	0.5	0.8	-0.4	0.8	0.2
Retail trade
Gross job gains	17,902	17,034	15,636	14,407	16,037	5.8	5.5	5.1	4.8	5.3
At expanding establishments	16,075	15,194	14,430	13,337	14,542	5.2	4.9	4.7	4.4	4.8
At opening establishments	1,827	1,840	1,206	1,070	1,495	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.5
Gross job losses	15,209	19,725	20,701	15,685	15,310	5.0	6.4	6.8	5.2	5.1
At contracting establishments	13,813	17,935	17,061	14,322	14,091	4.5	5.8	5.6	4.7	4.7
At closing establishments	1,396	1,790	3,640	1,363	1,219	0.5	0.6	1.2	0.5	0.4
Net employment change (2)	2,693	-2,691	-5,065	-1,278	727	0.8	-0.9	-1.7	-0.4	0.2
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	5,533	4,973	6,423	7,201	4,902	5.6	5.0	6.5	7.2	4.8
At expanding establishments	5,064	4,467	5,746	6,036	4,368	5.1	4.5	5.8	6.0	4.3
At opening establishments	469	506	677	1,165	534	0.5	0.5	0.7	1.2	0.5
Gross job losses	5,705	6,488	4,877	4,565	6,219	5.7	6.5	4.9	4.5	6.1
At contracting establishments	5,263	5,850	4,338	3,950	5,781	5.3	5.9	4.4	3.9	5.7
At closing establishments	442	638	539	615	438	0.4	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.4
Net employment change (2)	-172	-1,515	1,546	2,636	-1,317	-0.1	-1.5	1.6	2.7	-1.3
Financial activities
Gross job gains	5,008	5,522	5,510	5,575	5,792	3.4	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.8
At expanding establishments	4,173	4,683	4,647	4,817	4,832	2.8	3.1	3.1	3.2	3.2
At opening establishments	835	839	863	758	960	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.6
Gross job losses	4,771	5,002	5,698	5,529	5,256	3.2	3.3	3.8	3.7	3.5
At contracting establishments	3,924	4,222	4,626	4,321	4,217	2.6	2.8	3.1	2.9	2.8
At closing establishments	847	780	1,072	1,208	1,039	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.8	0.7
Net employment change (2)	237	520	-188	46	536	0.2	0.4	-0.1	0.0	0.3
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	20,293	20,820	17,056	20,567	18,885	6.1	6.3	5.2	6.4	5.8
At expanding establishments	16,539	18,019	14,366	17,061	16,020	5.0	5.5	4.4	5.3	4.9
At opening establishments	3,754	2,801	2,690	3,506	2,865	1.1	0.8	0.8	1.1	0.9
Gross job losses	20,048	22,703	23,226	19,961	17,864	6.1	6.9	7.1	6.2	5.5
At contracting establishments	17,100	19,761	19,976	16,411	14,938	5.2	6.0	6.1	5.1	4.6
At closing establishments	2,948	2,942	3,250	3,550	2,926	0.9	0.9	1.0	1.1	0.9
Net employment change (2)	245	-1,883	-6,170	606	1,021	0.0	-0.6	-1.9	0.2	0.3
Education and health services
Gross job gains	15,166	17,257	17,060	17,212	14,504	3.5	4.0	3.9	3.9	3.3
At expanding establishments	12,542	13,944	14,004	14,047	12,239	2.9	3.2	3.2	3.2	2.8
At opening establishments	2,624	3,313	3,056	3,165	2,265	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.5
Gross job losses	13,947	15,910	17,083	15,675	13,674	3.2	3.6	3.9	3.6	3.1
At contracting establishments	11,886	13,237	13,851	12,040	11,716	2.7	3.0	3.2	2.8	2.7
At closing establishments	2,061	2,673	3,232	3,635	1,958	0.5	0.6	0.7	0.8	0.4
Net employment change (2)	1,219	1,347	-23	1,537	830	0.3	0.4	0.0	0.3	0.2
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	31,778	27,994	27,307	28,703	27,731	11.3	9.8	9.7	10.1	9.7
At expanding establishments	27,091	23,051	21,276	24,050	22,555	9.6	8.1	7.6	8.5	7.9
At opening establishments	4,687	4,943	6,031	4,653	5,176	1.7	1.7	2.1	1.6	1.8
Gross job losses	22,802	30,639	31,221	25,253	24,890	8.1	10.8	11.2	8.9	8.7
At contracting establishments	19,773	26,751	26,863	21,548	21,559	7.0	9.4	9.6	7.6	7.5
At closing establishments	3,029	3,888	4,358	3,705	3,331	1.1	1.4	1.6	1.3	1.2
Net employment change (2)	8,976	-2,645	-3,914	3,450	2,841	3.2	-1.0	-1.5	1.2	1.0
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	5,226	5,601	4,945	4,824	5,029	6.6	7.1	6.3	6.1	6.4
At expanding establishments	4,410	4,830	4,175	3,784	4,203	5.6	6.1	5.3	4.8	5.3
At opening establishments	816	771	770	1,040	826	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.3	1.1
Gross job losses	4,654	4,606	5,458	5,221	5,009	6.0	5.8	6.9	6.6	6.4
At contracting establishments	3,902	3,798	4,640	4,403	4,180	5.0	4.8	5.9	5.6	5.3
At closing establishments	752	808	818	818	829	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.1
Net employment change (2)	572	995	-513	-397	20	0.6	1.3	-0.6	-0.5	0.0
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.