From June 2017 to September 2017, gross job losses in private-sector establishments in South Carolina totaled 106,344, while gross job gains numbered 96,040, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 10,304. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 2,589. (See chart1.)

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 Technical Note for more information.)

The number of gross job losses in South Carolina (106,344) in the third quarter of 2017 was the highest since the second quarter of 2009. The number of gross job gains (96,040) was the lowest since the first quarter of 2015. (See chart 1.)

South Carolina’s rate of gross job losses as a percent of private-sector employment was 6.4 percent in the third quarter of 2017; nationally gross job losses accounted for 6.1 percent of private-sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job gains represented 5.7 percent of private-sector employment in South Carolina, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.0 percent of private-sector employment in the third quarter of 2017.

South Carolina’s gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in 7 of 11 industries in the third quarter of 2017. The construction sector lost about 11,900 jobs at closing and contracting establishments, while opening and expanding establishments added close to 7,400 jobs. The resulting net loss of 4,516 jobs was the largest of any South Carolina sector during the quarter. Leisure and hospitality lost over 23,500 jobs at closing and contracting establishments, while adding just over 20,600 jobs at opening and expanding establishments, resulting in a net loss of 2,918 jobs. Gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by 2,666 within the retail trade sector, and by 2,593 in professional and business services. Among the three other sectors with net employment losses, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains by less than 300.

In contrast, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in four industries in South Carolina. Within the transportation and warehousing sector, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 2,239; and in manufacturing, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 1,504. The financial activities and information industries each had net employment gains of less than 310. (See table 1.)

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 Fourth Quarter 2017 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 25, 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, South Carolina, 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 2016	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017	Sept 2016	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	104,404	108,676	100,891	102,376	96,040	6.3	6.5	6.0	6.1	5.7
At expanding establishments	86,159	88,928	83,601	84,964	80,205	5.2	5.3	5.0	5.1	4.8
At opening establishments	18,245	19,748	17,290	17,412	15,835	1.1	1.2	1.0	1.0	0.9
Gross job losses	93,113	90,148	92,823	99,787	106,344	5.6	5.4	5.6	6.0	6.4
At contracting establishments	77,641	75,416	79,937	85,345	90,272	4.7	4.5	4.8	5.1	5.4
At closing establishments	15,472	14,732	12,886	14,442	16,072	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.9	1.0
Net employment change (2)	11,291	18,528	8,068	2,589	-10,304	0.7	1.1	0.4	0.1	-0.7
Construction
Gross job gains	8,781	8,331	8,143	8,840	7,374	9.2	8.6	8.1	8.7	7.3
At expanding establishments	6,933	6,652	6,158	7,019	5,741	7.3	6.9	6.1	6.9	5.7
At opening establishments	1,848	1,679	1,985	1,821	1,633	1.9	1.7	2.0	1.8	1.6
Gross job losses	7,260	7,153	7,685	7,253	11,890	7.6	7.4	7.6	7.2	11.9
At contracting establishments	5,938	5,616	6,451	6,026	9,664	6.2	5.8	6.4	6.0	9.7
At closing establishments	1,322	1,537	1,234	1,227	2,226	1.4	1.6	1.2	1.2	2.2
Net employment change (2)	1,521	1,178	458	1,587	-4,516	1.6	1.2	0.5	1.5	-4.6
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	7,825	7,556	7,014	7,905	7,325	3.3	3.1	3.0	3.2	3.1
At expanding establishments	7,313	6,961	6,393	7,081	6,707	3.1	2.9	2.7	2.9	2.8
At opening establishments	512	595	621	824	618	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.3	0.3
Gross job losses	5,536	5,966	5,199	6,130	5,821	2.3	2.5	2.1	2.5	2.4
At contracting establishments	4,967	5,330	4,884	5,561	5,284	2.1	2.2	2.0	2.3	2.2
At closing establishments	569	636	315	569	537	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.2	0.2
Net employment change (2)	2,289	1,590	1,815	1,775	1,504	1.0	0.6	0.9	0.7	0.7
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	3,537	3,175	3,323	3,634	3,410	4.9	4.4	4.6	5.0	4.7
At expanding establishments	2,819	2,503	2,791	3,084	2,742	3.9	3.5	3.9	4.2	3.8
At opening establishments	718	672	532	550	668	1.0	0.9	0.7	0.8	0.9
Gross job losses	3,275	2,876	3,104	3,204	3,654	4.5	4.0	4.3	4.5	5.0
At contracting establishments	2,523	2,300	2,567	2,438	2,994	3.5	3.2	3.6	3.4	4.1
At closing establishments	752	576	537	766	660	1.0	0.8	0.7	1.1	0.9
Net employment change (2)	262	299	219	430	-244	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.5	-0.3
Retail trade
Gross job gains	15,303	13,746	15,067	14,788	12,893	6.2	5.5	6.1	5.9	5.2
At expanding establishments	13,132	11,739	12,946	12,524	11,545	5.3	4.7	5.2	5.0	4.7
At opening establishments	2,171	2,007	2,121	2,264	1,348	0.9	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.5
Gross job losses	14,602	13,643	13,187	15,720	15,559	5.9	5.5	5.4	6.4	6.3
At contracting establishments	12,905	11,984	11,548	14,066	13,524	5.2	4.8	4.7	5.7	5.5
At closing establishments	1,697	1,659	1,639	1,654	2,035	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.8
Net employment change (2)	701	103	1,880	-932	-2,666	0.3	0.0	0.7	-0.5	-1.1
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	3,386	4,509	2,640	3,021	5,158	5.5	7.2	4.2	4.8	8.0
At expanding establishments	3,036	4,127	2,201	2,555	4,752	4.9	6.6	3.5	4.1	7.4
At opening establishments	350	382	439	466	406	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6
Gross job losses	2,686	2,673	4,333	2,974	2,919	4.4	4.2	6.9	4.8	4.6
At contracting establishments	2,260	2,341	4,035	2,686	2,356	3.7	3.7	6.4	4.3	3.7
At closing establishments	426	332	298	288	563	0.7	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.9
Net employment change (2)	700	1,836	-1,693	47	2,239	1.1	3.0	-2.7	0.0	3.4
Information
Gross job gains	1,269	1,646	1,250	1,588	1,758	4.7	6.0	4.5	5.8	6.3
At expanding establishments	1,046	1,370	1,028	1,184	1,529	3.9	5.0	3.7	4.3	5.5
At opening establishments	223	276	222	404	229	0.8	1.0	0.8	1.5	0.8
Gross job losses	1,355	1,215	1,330	1,849	1,614	5.0	4.5	4.8	6.7	5.8
At contracting establishments	1,085	955	1,188	1,573	1,397	4.0	3.5	4.3	5.7	5.0
At closing establishments	270	260	142	276	217	1.0	1.0	0.5	1.0	0.8
Net employment change (2)	-86	431	-80	-261	144	-0.3	1.5	-0.3	-0.9	0.5
Financial activities
Gross job gains	5,154	5,130	4,895	4,814	4,934	5.3	5.2	5.0	4.9	5.0
At expanding establishments	4,134	4,131	4,047	3,940	3,884	4.3	4.2	4.1	4.0	3.9
At opening establishments	1,020	999	848	874	1,050	1.0	1.0	0.9	0.9	1.1
Gross job losses	4,757	4,565	4,335	4,950	4,627	4.9	4.6	4.4	5.0	4.7
At contracting establishments	3,769	3,539	3,515	3,848	3,615	3.9	3.6	3.6	3.9	3.7
At closing establishments	988	1,026	820	1,102	1,012	1.0	1.0	0.8	1.1	1.0
Net employment change (2)	397	565	560	-136	307	0.4	0.6	0.6	-0.1	0.3
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	20,989	26,256	20,621	20,614	18,871	7.8	9.6	7.4	7.5	6.8
At expanding establishments	16,515	20,025	16,944	16,825	15,494	6.1	7.3	6.1	6.1	5.6
At opening establishments	4,474	6,231	3,677	3,789	3,377	1.7	2.3	1.3	1.4	1.2
Gross job losses	19,109	19,226	21,323	19,636	21,464	7.1	7.1	7.7	7.1	7.8
At contracting establishments	14,863	15,789	18,540	16,387	18,002	5.5	5.8	6.7	5.9	6.5
At closing establishments	4,246	3,437	2,783	3,249	3,462	1.6	1.3	1.0	1.2	1.3
Net employment change (2)	1,880	7,030	-702	978	-2,593	0.7	2.5	-0.3	0.4	-1.0
Education and health services
Gross job gains	10,788	9,800	10,948	9,994	9,156	4.9	4.4	4.9	4.5	4.0
At expanding establishments	9,043	8,284	9,035	8,248	8,002	4.1	3.7	4.0	3.7	3.5
At opening establishments	1,745	1,516	1,913	1,746	1,154	0.8	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.5
Gross job losses	8,135	9,144	8,512	8,962	9,448	3.7	4.1	3.7	4.0	4.2
At contracting establishments	6,463	7,325	7,073	7,651	7,804	2.9	3.3	3.1	3.4	3.5
At closing establishments	1,672	1,819	1,439	1,311	1,644	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.6	0.7
Net employment change (2)	2,653	656	2,436	1,032	-292	1.2	0.3	1.2	0.5	-0.2
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	21,689	22,990	21,027	22,332	20,632	8.8	9.2	8.3	8.8	8.2
At expanding establishments	17,746	18,799	17,428	18,456	16,269	7.2	7.5	6.9	7.3	6.5
At opening establishments	3,943	4,191	3,599	3,876	4,363	1.6	1.7	1.4	1.5	1.7
Gross job losses	21,596	18,931	18,457	23,317	23,550	8.8	7.6	7.3	9.2	9.4
At contracting establishments	18,917	16,388	16,230	20,451	20,865	7.7	6.6	6.4	8.1	8.3
At closing establishments	2,679	2,543	2,227	2,866	2,685	1.1	1.0	0.9	1.1	1.1
Net employment change (2)	93	4,059	2,570	-985	-2,918	0.0	1.6	1.0	-0.4	-1.2
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	3,761	3,805	3,441	3,273	3,332	8.0	7.9	7.1	6.9	7.0
At expanding establishments	2,837	2,972	2,652	2,620	2,521	6.0	6.2	5.5	5.5	5.3
At opening establishments	924	833	789	653	811	2.0	1.7	1.6	1.4	1.7
Gross job losses	3,079	3,206	3,401	3,675	3,520	6.5	6.7	7.0	7.6	7.4
At contracting establishments	2,348	2,492	2,415	2,839	2,702	5.0	5.2	5.0	5.9	5.7
At closing establishments	731	714	986	836	818	1.5	1.5	2.0	1.7	1.7
Net employment change (2)	682	599	40	-402	-188	1.5	1.2	0.1	-0.7	-0.4
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.