From June 2015 to September 2015 gross job gains in private sector establishments in Utah totaled 78,335, while gross job losses numbered 67,127, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 11,208. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that gross jobs gains exceeded gross job losses by 8,341 during the previous quarter.

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.)

Gross job gains in Utah increased by 1,141 from June 2015 to September 2015 and have been above 70,000 in each of the past 12 quarters. Gross job losses declined by 1,726 in the 3-months ended in September 2015 after increasing in the previous two quarters. Since the quarter ended in December 2009, gross job losses have been below 70,000 with one exception. (See chart 1.) 

Gross job gains represented 7.0 percent of private sector employment in Utah in the quarter ended September 2015, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.1 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) The rate of gross job gains in Utah has been above the U.S. rate in each quarter since data were first published in 1992, with the exception of the fourth quarter of 1997 when Utah’s rate matched the national rate. The rate of gross job losses in Utah has generally exceeded the U.S. rate each quarter since December 1995.

During the third quarter of 2015, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 10 of the 11 industry sectors in Utah. For example, within education and health services, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 3,047. While 9,331 jobs in the industry were created by opening and expanding establishments, 6,284 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the 3 months ended in September 2015. In retail trade, 10,764 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and 8,736 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments. Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by more than 1,000 in three additional industry sectors—leisure and hospitality (1,911), professional and business services (1,240), and financial activities (1,094). (See table 1.)

In contrast, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in the other services sector during the third quarter of 2015. The 2,535 jobs lost in contracting and closing establishments offset the 2,441 jobs created in expanding and opening establishments.

For More 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 Fourth Quarter 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 27, 2016 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

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 quarterly 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, Utah, 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)
	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015	Sept. 2015	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Mar. 2015	June 2015	Sept. 2015
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	76,796	77,688	81,508	77,194	78,335	7.1	7.2	7.3	6.9	7.0
At expanding establishments	63,692	62,897	67,997	63,223	64,227	5.9	5.8	6.1	5.7	5.7
At opening establishments	13,104	14,791	13,511	13,971	14,108	1.2	1.4	1.2	1.2	1.3
Gross job losses	64,827	63,747	64,830	68,853	67,127	6.0	5.8	5.9	6.1	5.9
At contracting establishments	53,042	52,506	54,125	57,144	54,197	4.9	4.8	4.9	5.1	4.8
At closing establishments	11,785	11,241	10,705	11,709	12,930	1.1	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.1
Net employment change (2)	11,969	13,941	16,678	8,341	11,208	1.1	1.4	1.4	0.8	1.1
Construction
Gross job gains	8,533	9,289	9,850	8,674	8,350	10.9	11.6	11.7	10.2	10.0
At expanding establishments	6,882	7,367	8,302	7,061	6,793	8.8	9.2	9.9	8.3	8.1
At opening establishments	1,651	1,922	1,548	1,613	1,557	2.1	2.4	1.8	1.9	1.9
Gross job losses	8,006	6,789	7,273	8,029	7,937	10.3	8.5	8.7	9.5	9.4
At contracting establishments	6,315	5,609	6,004	6,395	6,159	8.1	7.0	7.2	7.6	7.3
At closing establishments	1,691	1,180	1,269	1,634	1,778	2.2	1.5	1.5	1.9	2.1
Net employment change (2)	527	2,500	2,577	645	413	0.6	3.1	3.0	0.7	0.6
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	4,108	4,079	5,166	4,487	4,216	3.5	3.4	4.2	3.6	3.4
At expanding establishments	3,686	3,738	4,634	4,094	3,713	3.1	3.1	3.8	3.3	3.0
At opening establishments	422	341	532	393	503	0.4	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.4
Gross job losses	4,058	3,870	3,696	3,848	4,079	3.4	3.2	3.0	3.2	3.3
At contracting establishments	3,611	3,469	3,289	3,518	3,500	3.0	2.9	2.7	2.9	2.8
At closing establishments	447	401	407	330	579	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.5
Net employment change (2)	50	209	1,470	639	137	0.1	0.2	1.2	0.4	0.1
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	2,491	2,889	2,332	2,694	2,591	5.1	5.9	4.7	5.3	5.2
At expanding establishments	2,000	2,271	1,970	2,121	2,094	4.1	4.6	4.0	4.2	4.2
At opening establishments	491	618	362	573	497	1.0	1.3	0.7	1.1	1.0
Gross job losses	2,064	1,954	2,117	2,182	2,313	4.3	3.9	4.3	4.4	4.6
At contracting establishments	1,682	1,497	1,642	1,789	1,852	3.5	3.0	3.3	3.6	3.7
At closing establishments	382	457	475	393	461	0.8	0.9	1.0	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	427	935	215	512	278	0.8	2.0	0.4	0.9	0.6
Retail trade
Gross job gains	10,290	9,773	11,782	9,552	10,764	6.7	6.4	7.6	6.1	6.8
At expanding establishments	8,704	8,401	10,457	8,177	9,018	5.7	5.5	6.7	5.2	5.7
At opening establishments	1,586	1,372	1,325	1,375	1,746	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9	1.1
Gross job losses	8,681	9,153	8,530	8,234	8,736	5.7	6.0	5.5	5.2	5.5
At contracting establishments	7,323	8,079	7,411	7,079	7,344	4.8	5.3	4.8	4.5	4.6
At closing establishments	1,358	1,074	1,119	1,155	1,392	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.9
Net employment change (2)	1,609	620	3,252	1,318	2,028	1.0	0.4	2.1	0.9	1.3
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	2,333	3,442	3,510	2,334	3,002	5.1	7.3	7.2	4.8	6.1
At expanding establishments	1,981	3,152	3,224	2,016	2,594	4.3	6.7	6.6	4.1	5.3
At opening establishments	352	290	286	318	408	0.8	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.8
Gross job losses	2,224	2,240	2,211	2,896	2,210	4.8	4.8	4.5	5.9	4.5
At contracting establishments	1,929	2,023	1,919	2,597	1,834	4.2	4.3	3.9	5.3	3.7
At closing establishments	295	217	292	299	376	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.8
Net employment change (2)	109	1,202	1,299	-562	792	0.3	2.5	2.7	-1.1	1.6
Information
Gross job gains	2,404	2,233	2,034	2,179	2,466	7.5	6.9	6.3	6.7	7.3
At expanding establishments	2,021	1,877	1,744	1,736	1,885	6.3	5.8	5.4	5.3	5.6
At opening establishments	383	356	290	443	581	1.2	1.1	0.9	1.4	1.7
Gross job losses	1,879	1,763	1,727	1,797	1,729	5.9	5.4	5.4	5.5	5.2
At contracting establishments	1,538	1,529	1,381	1,331	1,340	4.8	4.7	4.3	4.1	4.0
At closing establishments	341	234	346	466	389	1.1	0.7	1.1	1.4	1.2
Net employment change (2)	525	470	307	382	737	1.6	1.5	0.9	1.2	2.1
Financial activities
Gross job gains	4,796	4,689	4,879	5,150	4,603	6.4	6.2	6.3	6.5	5.8
At expanding establishments	3,683	3,408	3,742	4,102	3,701	4.9	4.5	4.8	5.2	4.7
At opening establishments	1,113	1,281	1,137	1,048	902	1.5	1.7	1.5	1.3	1.1
Gross job losses	3,550	3,503	3,523	3,757	3,509	4.7	4.6	4.5	4.8	4.4
At contracting establishments	2,678	2,514	2,664	2,852	2,694	3.5	3.3	3.4	3.6	3.4
At closing establishments	872	989	859	905	815	1.2	1.3	1.1	1.2	1.0
Net employment change (2)	1,246	1,186	1,356	1,393	1,094	1.7	1.6	1.8	1.7	1.4
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	15,806	16,283	15,248	16,099	15,741	8.7	8.7	8.1	8.4	8.2
At expanding establishments	13,103	12,745	12,291	12,912	12,714	7.2	6.8	6.5	6.7	6.6
At opening establishments	2,703	3,538	2,957	3,187	3,027	1.5	1.9	1.6	1.7	1.6
Gross job losses	12,662	12,706	14,106	13,869	14,501	6.9	6.8	7.5	7.2	7.5
At contracting establishments	10,152	9,977	11,297	10,907	11,167	5.5	5.3	6.0	5.7	5.8
At closing establishments	2,510	2,729	2,809	2,962	3,334	1.4	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.7
Net employment change (2)	3,144	3,577	1,142	2,230	1,240	1.8	1.9	0.6	1.2	0.7
Education and health services
Gross job gains	8,446	8,368	8,252	8,714	9,331	5.4	5.2	5.0	5.3	5.6
At expanding establishments	7,089	6,744	6,396	7,173	7,604	4.5	4.2	3.9	4.4	4.6
At opening establishments	1,357	1,624	1,856	1,541	1,727	0.9	1.0	1.1	0.9	1.0
Gross job losses	5,962	6,199	5,861	7,109	6,284	3.7	3.8	3.6	4.3	3.8
At contracting establishments	4,814	4,832	4,940	5,792	4,798	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.5	2.9
At closing establishments	1,148	1,367	921	1,317	1,486	0.7	0.8	0.6	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	2,484	2,169	2,391	1,605	3,047	1.7	1.4	1.4	1.0	1.8
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	13,457	12,670	14,207	13,267	13,591	10.4	9.7	10.8	9.9	10.1
At expanding establishments	11,218	10,202	11,757	10,843	11,331	8.7	7.8	8.9	8.1	8.4
At opening establishments	2,239	2,468	2,450	2,424	2,260	1.7	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.7
Gross job losses	11,773	11,909	11,773	11,787	11,680	9.1	9.1	8.9	8.8	8.6
At contracting establishments	9,819	10,073	10,317	10,475	10,131	7.6	7.7	7.8	7.8	7.5
At closing establishments	1,954	1,836	1,456	1,312	1,549	1.5	1.4	1.1	1.0	1.1
Net employment change (2)	1,684	761	2,434	1,480	1,911	1.3	0.6	1.9	1.1	1.5
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	2,495	2,400	2,823	2,814	2,441	7.9	7.6	8.8	8.6	7.5
At expanding establishments	2,024	1,855	2,339	2,088	1,911	6.4	5.9	7.3	6.4	5.9
At opening establishments	471	545	484	726	530	1.5	1.7	1.5	2.2	1.6
Gross job losses	2,422	2,178	2,106	3,064	2,535	7.7	6.8	6.5	9.5	7.8
At contracting establishments	1,851	1,629	1,595	2,621	2,017	5.9	5.1	4.9	8.1	6.2
At closing establishments	571	549	511	443	518	1.8	1.7	1.6	1.4	1.6
Net employment change (2)	73	222	717	-250	-94	0.2	0.8	2.3	-0.9	-0.3
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.