From December 2017 to March 2018, gross job gains in Tennessee totaled 128,609, while gross job losses numbered 122,183, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 6,426. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 24,276. (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 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.)

Tennessee’s gross job gains have remained above 120,000 each quarter since the second quarter of 2010. The 128,609 gross job gains in the first quarter of 2018 was the lowest since the first quarter of 2015. Tennessee’s 122,183 gross job losses in the first quarter of 2018 was the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2015. (See chart 1.)

Gross job gains represented 5.0 percent of private sector employment in Tennessee in the first quarter of 2018; nationally, gross job gains accounted for 6.0 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) Tennessee’s rate of job gains has been below the U.S. rate since the series began in 1992. Gross job losses accounted for 4.8 percent of private sector employment in Tennessee in the first quarter of 2018, lower than the national rate of 5.4 percent. With few exceptions, Tennessee’s rate of gross job losses has been below the national average since the series began.

During the first quarter of 2018, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 9 of the 11 industry sectors in Tennessee. For example, leisure and hospitality added approximately 26,000 jobs in opening and expanding establishments, and lost nearly 22,000 jobs in closing and contracting establishments. The resulting net gain of 4,019 jobs was the largest of any sector in the state for the first quarter of 2018. In retail trade, about 18,500 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and over 15,900 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments, resulting in a net gain of 2,563 jobs. Two other industry sectors—education and health services and construction—each had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses by more than 1,300.

Professional and business services and transportation and warehousing were the only industry sectors in Tennessee in which gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in the first quarter of 2018. With more than 25,100 gross job gains in opening and expanding establishments, and over 29,500 job losses in closing and contracting establishments, professional and business services had a net loss of 4,420 jobs. Transportation and warehousing had approximately 5,800 gross job gains in opening and expanding establishments, and over 7,400 job losses in closing and contracting establishments, resulting in a net loss of 1,619 jobs. (See table 1.)

Tennessee was among the four states in the East South Central Census Division. In the first quarter of 2018, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. (See table A.) Alabama and Kentucky had rates of gross job gains that were at or above the national rate of 6.0 percent. Alabama and Tennessee had rates of gross job losses that were below the 5.4-percent national rate; Kentucky and Mississippi had rates of gross job loss above the national rate.

Table A. Private sector gross job gains and losses for the United States, East South Central Division, and East South Central states, March 2018, 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	7,406,000	6.0	6,666,000	5.4	740,000	0.6
East South Central (1)	370,412	—	352,870	—	17,542	—
Alabama	95,408	6.0	84,599	5.3	10,809	0.7
Kentucky	97,348	6.2	93,418	5.9	3,930	0.3
Mississippi	49,047	5.5	52,670	5.8	-3,623	-0.3
Tennessee	128,609	5.0	122,183	4.8	6,426	0.2
Footnotes: (1) Data were calculated for this release using published gross job gains and gross job losses for states located in the East South 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 for Second Quarter 2018 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

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, Tennessee, 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. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017	Dec. 2017	Mar. 2018	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017	Dec. 2017	Mar. 2018
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	130,766	136,862	135,735	148,658	128,609	5.2	5.5	5.4	5.9	5.0
At expanding establishments	115,125	117,565	115,955	126,609	113,263	4.6	4.7	4.6	5.0	4.4
At opening establishments	15,641	19,297	19,780	22,049	15,346	0.6	0.8	0.8	0.9	0.6
Gross job losses	125,921	130,049	131,055	124,382	122,183	5.0	5.2	5.2	4.9	4.8
At contracting establishments	113,509	113,687	115,356	109,570	109,956	4.5	4.5	4.6	4.3	4.3
At closing establishments	12,412	16,362	15,699	14,812	12,227	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.5
Net employment change (2)	4,845	6,813	4,680	24,276	6,426	0.2	0.3	0.2	1.0	0.2
Construction
Gross job gains	10,529	9,751	9,989	10,103	9,908	8.8	8.1	8.3	8.3	8.0
At expanding establishments	9,187	8,227	8,404	8,613	8,535	7.7	6.8	7.0	7.1	6.9
At opening establishments	1,342	1,524	1,585	1,490	1,373	1.1	1.3	1.3	1.2	1.1
Gross job losses	8,036	10,495	10,036	8,450	8,555	6.7	8.7	8.4	7.0	7.0
At contracting establishments	6,957	9,069	8,497	7,630	7,624	5.8	7.5	7.1	6.3	6.2
At closing establishments	1,079	1,426	1,539	820	931	0.9	1.2	1.3	0.7	0.8
Net employment change (2)	2,493	-744	-47	1,653	1,353	2.1	-0.6	-0.1	1.3	1.0
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	8,970	10,077	9,411	11,425	9,438	2.6	2.9	2.7	3.2	2.7
At expanding establishments	8,631	9,548	8,915	10,573	8,773	2.5	2.7	2.6	3.0	2.5
At opening establishments	339	529	496	852	665	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2	0.2
Gross job losses	8,463	9,964	10,189	9,696	8,764	2.4	2.8	2.9	2.8	2.5
At contracting establishments	8,087	9,238	9,469	9,088	8,084	2.3	2.6	2.7	2.6	2.3
At closing establishments	376	726	720	608	680	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Net employment change (2)	507	113	-778	1,729	674	0.2	0.1	-0.2	0.4	0.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	5,145	5,310	5,073	5,188	4,913	4.3	4.4	4.1	4.3	4.1
At expanding establishments	4,453	4,387	4,443	4,507	4,198	3.7	3.6	3.6	3.7	3.5
At opening establishments	692	923	630	681	715	0.6	0.8	0.5	0.6	0.6
Gross job losses	4,063	4,406	4,675	4,442	4,464	3.4	3.6	3.8	3.7	3.8
At contracting establishments	3,244	3,658	3,835	3,848	3,648	2.7	3.0	3.1	3.2	3.1
At closing establishments	819	748	840	594	816	0.7	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.7
Net employment change (2)	1,082	904	398	746	449	0.9	0.8	0.3	0.6	0.3
Retail trade
Gross job gains	18,710	17,617	17,786	17,803	18,506	5.6	5.3	5.3	5.3	5.5
At expanding establishments	17,146	15,742	15,705	15,899	16,950	5.1	4.7	4.7	4.7	5.0
At opening establishments	1,564	1,875	2,081	1,904	1,556	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5
Gross job losses	16,522	17,995	18,802	17,343	15,943	4.9	5.3	5.6	5.1	4.8
At contracting establishments	15,214	16,060	16,908	15,890	14,378	4.5	4.7	5.0	4.7	4.3
At closing establishments	1,308	1,935	1,894	1,453	1,565	0.4	0.6	0.6	0.4	0.5
Net employment change (2)	2,188	-378	-1,016	460	2,563	0.7	0.0	-0.3	0.2	0.7
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	5,300	7,037	8,101	8,949	5,801	3.3	4.5	5.2	5.6	3.6
At expanding establishments	4,788	6,190	7,542	7,988	5,184	3.0	4.0	4.8	5.0	3.2
At opening establishments	512	847	559	961	617	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.6	0.4
Gross job losses	9,224	5,756	5,362	5,342	7,420	5.8	3.7	3.4	3.3	4.5
At contracting establishments	8,712	5,258	4,797	4,671	7,049	5.5	3.4	3.0	2.9	4.3
At closing establishments	512	498	565	671	371	0.3	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.2
Net employment change (2)	-3,924	1,281	2,739	3,607	-1,619	-2.5	0.8	1.8	2.3	-0.9
Information
Gross job gains	2,299	4,013	2,618	2,165	2,163	5.1	8.7	5.7	4.8	4.8
At expanding establishments	1,995	3,541	1,940	1,926	1,755	4.4	7.7	4.2	4.3	3.9
At opening establishments	304	472	678	239	408	0.7	1.0	1.5	0.5	0.9
Gross job losses	2,067	2,549	3,545	2,743	2,085	4.6	5.5	7.7	6.1	4.7
At contracting establishments	1,782	2,085	3,211	2,352	1,833	4.0	4.5	7.0	5.2	4.1
At closing establishments	285	464	334	391	252	0.6	1.0	0.7	0.9	0.6
Net employment change (2)	232	1,464	-927	-578	78	0.5	3.2	-2.0	-1.3	0.1
Financial activities
Gross job gains	6,581	6,552	5,829	6,134	6,256	4.5	4.4	3.9	4.1	4.2
At expanding establishments	5,571	5,556	5,079	5,136	5,399	3.8	3.7	3.4	3.4	3.6
At opening establishments	1,010	996	750	998	857	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.7	0.6
Gross job losses	5,377	5,335	5,510	6,082	5,372	3.6	3.6	3.7	4.1	3.6
At contracting establishments	4,449	4,541	4,730	4,954	4,695	3.0	3.1	3.2	3.3	3.1
At closing establishments	928	794	780	1,128	677	0.6	0.5	0.5	0.8	0.5
Net employment change (2)	1,204	1,217	319	52	884	0.9	0.8	0.2	0.0	0.6
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	27,319	29,593	29,109	34,288	25,123	6.7	7.3	7.1	8.4	6.1
At expanding establishments	23,778	25,254	24,264	29,048	22,257	5.8	6.2	5.9	7.1	5.4
At opening establishments	3,541	4,339	4,845	5,240	2,866	0.9	1.1	1.2	1.3	0.7
Gross job losses	32,160	27,998	28,043	27,293	29,543	7.9	6.8	6.9	6.6	7.1
At contracting establishments	28,987	23,734	24,875	23,974	26,290	7.1	5.8	6.1	5.8	6.3
At closing establishments	3,173	4,264	3,168	3,319	3,253	0.8	1.0	0.8	0.8	0.8
Net employment change (2)	-4,841	1,595	1,066	6,995	-4,420	-1.2	0.5	0.2	1.8	-1.0
Education and health services
Gross job gains	14,381	15,957	16,141	15,293	14,212	3.5	3.8	3.9	3.7	3.4
At expanding establishments	13,319	13,908	14,506	13,696	13,244	3.2	3.3	3.5	3.3	3.2
At opening establishments	1,062	2,049	1,635	1,597	968	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.4	0.2
Gross job losses	12,504	15,277	13,952	14,108	12,510	3.0	3.7	3.3	3.4	2.9
At contracting establishments	11,205	13,608	12,159	11,986	11,519	2.7	3.3	2.9	2.9	2.7
At closing establishments	1,299	1,669	1,793	2,122	991	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.2
Net employment change (2)	1,877	680	2,189	1,185	1,702	0.5	0.1	0.6	0.3	0.5
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	25,872	24,483	25,878	30,869	25,923	7.9	7.4	7.9	9.3	7.7
At expanding establishments	21,571	19,778	20,419	23,713	21,616	6.6	6.0	6.2	7.1	6.4
At opening establishments	4,301	4,705	5,459	7,156	4,307	1.3	1.4	1.7	2.2	1.3
Gross job losses	22,215	24,898	25,339	23,646	21,904	6.8	7.6	7.7	7.1	6.5
At contracting establishments	20,210	21,973	21,995	20,559	19,915	6.2	6.7	6.7	6.2	5.9
At closing establishments	2,005	2,925	3,344	3,087	1,989	0.6	0.9	1.0	0.9	0.6
Net employment change (2)	3,657	-415	539	7,223	4,019	1.1	-0.2	0.2	2.2	1.2
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	4,562	5,054	4,707	4,667	4,792	6.7	7.4	6.8	6.7	6.8
At expanding establishments	3,808	4,248	4,037	4,032	4,134	5.6	6.2	5.8	5.8	5.9
At opening establishments	754	806	670	635	658	1.1	1.2	1.0	0.9	0.9
Gross job losses	4,057	4,131	4,451	4,088	4,264	5.9	6.0	6.4	5.9	6.0
At contracting establishments	3,551	3,431	3,876	3,624	3,753	5.2	5.0	5.6	5.2	5.3
At closing establishments	506	700	575	464	511	0.7	1.0	0.8	0.7	0.7
Net employment change (2)	505	923	256	579	528	0.8	1.4	0.4	0.8	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.