From March 2025 to June 2025, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in Puerto Rico were 53,345 while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 46,382, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Michael G. Phinney noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 6,963 jobs in the private sector during the second quarter of 2025. (See table 1.) During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 6,488. (See chart 1.)

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector 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 Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.)

Gross job gains

In the second quarter of 2025, gross job gains represented 7.0 percent of private-sector employment in Puerto Rico; in the United States, gross job gains accounted for 5.7 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. In Puerto Rico, gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 45,086 in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 2,209 jobs compared to the previous quarter. Opening establishments accounted for 8,259 jobs gained in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 4,127 jobs from the previous quarter.

Gross job losses

In the second quarter of 2025, gross job losses represented 6.1 percent of private-sector employment in Puerto Rico; in the United States, gross job losses accounted for 6.0 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 3.) Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. In Puerto Rico, contracting establishments lost 41,686 jobs in the second quarter of 2025, an increase of 6,916 jobs from the prior quarter. Closing establishments lost 4,696 jobs, a decrease of 1,055 jobs from the previous quarter.

For more information

The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector, for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, as well as gross job gains and gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class. BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. Additional information is available online at the Business Employment Dynamics homepage and the Business Employment Dynamics Summary.

The Business Employment Dynamics for Third Quarter 2025 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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.

More information on formal definitions of the data used in this release, along with coverage, concepts, and methodology, can be found in the Business Employment Dynamics Technical Note.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Private-sector gross job gains and losses by industry, Puerto Rico, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains and losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	June 2024	Sept. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025	June 2025	June 2024	Sept. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025	June 2025
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	41,736	41,377	32,899	47,009	53,345	5.5	5.4	4.3	6.3	7.0
At expanding establishments	35,138	36,000	27,265	42,877	45,086	4.6	4.7	3.6	5.7	5.9
At opening establishments	6,598	5,377	5,634	4,132	8,259	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.6	1.1
Gross job losses	37,314	38,652	41,286	40,521	46,382	4.9	5.0	5.4	5.4	6.1
At contracting establishments	33,368	33,000	36,487	34,770	41,686	4.4	4.3	4.8	4.6	5.5
At closing establishments	3,946	5,652	4,799	5,751	4,696	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	4,422	2,725	-8,387	6,488	6,963	0.6	0.4	-1.1	0.9	0.9
Retail trade
Gross job gains	7,448	8,439	5,466	11,646	8,415	5.5	6.2	4.1	8.8	6.2
At expanding establishments	6,593	7,357	4,500	11,022	7,503	4.9	5.4	3.4	8.3	5.5
At opening establishments	855	1,082	966	624	912	0.6	0.8	0.7	0.5	0.7
Gross job losses	7,423	6,209	8,990	5,805	9,401	5.6	4.6	6.8	4.3	6.9
At contracting establishments	6,679	5,437	8,188	4,959	8,575	5.0	4.0	6.2	3.7	6.3
At closing establishments	744	772	802	846	826	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Net employment change (2)	25	2,230	-3,524	5,841	-986	-0.1	1.6	-2.7	4.5	-0.7
Education and health services
Gross job gains	6,376	6,041	6,042	5,744	7,770	5.4	5.1	5.0	4.8	6.4
At expanding establishments	5,473	5,258	4,916	5,194	6,678	4.6	4.4	4.1	4.3	5.5
At opening establishments	903	783	1,126	550	1,092	0.8	0.7	0.9	0.5	0.9
Gross job losses	5,787	5,611	6,084	6,075	6,285	4.8	4.6	5.0	5.1	5.2
At contracting establishments	5,199	4,871	5,473	5,254	5,568	4.3	4.0	4.5	4.4	4.6
At closing establishments	588	740	611	821	717	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.7	0.6
Net employment change (2)	589	430	-42	-331	1,485	0.6	0.5	0.0	-0.3	1.2
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.

Table 2. Private-sector gross job gains and losses as a percent of total employment by state, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains as a percent of employment (3 months ended)					Gross job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	June 2024	Sept. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025	June 2025	June 2024	Sept. 2024	Dec. 2024	Mar. 2025	June 2025
United States(1)	5.8	5.8	5.9	5.6	5.7	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.4	6.0
Alabama	5.6	5.8	5.8	5.3	5.5	5.6	5.9	5.3	5.6	5.6
Alaska	10.2	8.0	10.3	10.0	9.9	9.6	9.6	9.5	8.1	10.3
Arizona	5.6	6.4	6.1	5.8	5.3	6.5	5.7	5.9	5.3	6.3
Arkansas	5.3	5.5	5.8	5.1	5.1	5.7	5.2	4.8	5.1	5.5
California	6.2	6.3	6.7	6.0	6.6	6.9	6.2	6.4	6.2	6.7
Colorado	6.6	6.3	6.2	6.2	6.4	5.8	6.4	6.5	6.8	7.1
Connecticut	5.8	5.5	5.5	5.6	5.8	5.5	5.6	5.5	5.3	5.8
Delaware	5.8	6.8	6.1	5.9	5.9	6.5	6.4	6.3	5.3	6.1
District of Columbia	5.1	4.9	5.0	4.8	5.7	5.4	5.0	5.5	5.8	5.9
Florida	6.1	6.5	6.0	5.8	5.7	5.8	5.7	6.2	5.5	5.8
Georgia	5.9	5.8	6.0	5.5	5.5	5.7	6.1	5.4	5.7	5.6
Hawaii	5.2	5.7	5.3	4.9	4.8	5.6	5.0	5.0	5.0	5.2
Idaho	7.5	7.1	8.2	7.3	7.7	7.2	7.5	6.8	7.3	7.2
Illinois	5.1	4.9	5.1	5.0	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.1	5.0	5.2
Indiana	5.2	5.3	5.5	5.4	5.0	5.5	5.3	5.1	5.2	5.6
Iowa	5.6	5.3	5.6	5.8	5.6	5.8	6.0	5.6	5.5	5.8
Kansas	5.9	5.3	5.9	5.5	5.4	5.6	5.6	5.2	5.4	6.3
Kentucky	5.3	5.4	5.3	5.2	5.0	5.8	5.4	5.5	4.8	5.4
Louisiana	5.8	6.1	6.2	5.6	5.5	6.2	5.8	5.5	5.6	6.3
Maine	7.2	6.2	7.0	7.4	7.2	7.1	7.1	7.1	6.3	7.4
Maryland	7.1	5.9	6.0	5.9	5.7	5.9	6.1	5.9	5.7	6.2
Massachusetts	5.7	5.0	5.3	5.0	5.5	5.6	5.8	5.5	5.1	5.8
Michigan	5.7	5.3	5.4	5.2	5.8	5.4	5.8	5.9	5.3	5.5
Minnesota	5.7	5.1	5.5	5.1	5.8	5.2	5.8	5.1	5.5	5.5
Mississippi	5.7	6.3	6.3	5.7	6.3	6.3	5.7	6.2	6.1	6.5
Missouri	5.6	5.6	5.7	5.4	5.5	5.8	5.8	5.3	5.2	6.1
Montana	7.9	7.2	8.4	8.0	7.7	7.6	8.0	7.8	7.5	8.3
Nebraska	5.5	5.6	5.6	5.2	5.4	5.6	5.6	5.5	5.3	5.5
Nevada	5.8	6.2	6.1	5.4	6.2	5.8	5.9	5.6	5.9	6.3
New Hampshire	6.1	5.6	6.3	6.5	6.3	6.0	6.7	5.9	6.1	6.7
New Jersey	5.9	5.4	6.0	5.6	5.8	5.5	5.8	5.5	5.4	5.5
New Mexico	6.1	6.3	6.1	5.9	5.9	6.5	6.2	5.9	5.8	6.0
New York	5.8	5.7	5.7	6.6	5.9	5.5	5.8	5.5	5.0	7.0
North Carolina	5.6	5.5	6.1	5.4	5.6	5.5	5.8	5.5	5.5	5.4
North Dakota	6.6	6.5	6.5	6.7	6.4	6.6	6.5	6.6	6.5	6.7
Ohio	5.2	5.2	5.4	5.2	5.3	5.3	5.4	5.1	4.9	5.4
Oklahoma	5.7	6.1	6.0	5.5	5.5	6.4	5.5	5.5	5.3	6.2
Oregon	6.0	6.3	6.2	5.8	6.4	6.3	6.6	6.6	6.2	6.5
Pennsylvania	4.9	5.1	5.2	5.0	4.9	5.2	5.0	4.8	4.7	5.2
Rhode Island	6.6	6.2	7.3	6.6	6.3	6.7	6.4	6.3	5.9	6.7
South Carolina	6.1	6.2	6.4	6.1	5.8	6.0	5.9	5.9	5.5	6.6
South Dakota	6.0	5.9	6.7	6.2	6.0	6.2	5.9	5.9	6.5	6.1
Tennessee	5.5	5.6	5.5	5.4	5.1	5.6	5.7	6.2	5.1	5.9
Texas	5.4	5.7	5.8	5.1	5.2	5.3	5.3	5.2	5.1	5.4
Utah	6.5	6.8	6.8	6.6	6.6	6.9	6.2	6.3	6.0	6.6
Vermont	6.7	6.6	6.7	6.9	6.9	7.4	7.1	6.7	6.8	7.5
Virginia	5.6	5.8	5.8	5.6	5.8	5.7	5.7	5.5	5.1	5.8
Washington	5.9	5.8	5.8	5.7	6.0	5.6	5.8	5.7	5.5	5.4
West Virginia	7.0	5.9	6.5	6.4	5.5	6.7	6.6	6.1	5.7	6.3
Wisconsin	5.3	5.1	5.3	5.0	5.3	5.6	5.5	5.2	4.9	5.5
Wyoming	8.2	8.9	8.9	8.1	8.3	8.8	8.5	8.3	8.7	8.9
Puerto Rico	5.5	5.4	4.3	6.3	7.0	4.9	5.0	5.4	5.4	6.1
Virgin Islands	4.9	4.7	5.2	5.4	15.0	5.7	7.5	10.8	7.6	9.5
Footnotes (1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.