From December 2025 to March 2026, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments in South Carolina were 119,729, while gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 113,440, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 6,289 jobs in the private sector during the first quarter of 2026. (See table 1.) During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 20,669. (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 first quarter of 2026, gross job gains represented 6.0 percent of private-sector employment in South Carolina; nationally, gross job gains accounted for 5.5 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 South Carolina, gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 99,352 in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 211 jobs compared to the previous quarter. Opening establishments accounted for 20,377 jobs gained in the first quarter of 2026, a decrease of 8,740 jobs from the previous quarter.

Gross job losses

In the first quarter of 2026, gross job losses represented 5.7 percent of private-sector employment in South Carolina; nationally, gross job losses accounted for 5.5 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 South Carolina, contracting establishments lost 88,950 jobs in the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 1,649 jobs from the prior quarter. Closing establishments lost 24,490 jobs, an increase of 4,202 jobs from the previous quarter.

Industries

Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 7 of the 11 published industry sectors in South Carolina in the first quarter of 2026. Education and health services had the largest over-the-quarter net job increase, with a gain of 6,338 jobs. This was the result of 21,414 gross job gains and 15,076 gross job losses. The retail trade industry had a net gain of 2,532 jobs. Transportation and warehousing showed a net loss of 2,107 jobs, the largest loss of any sector in the state. South Carolina’s leisure and hospitality industry sector had a net loss of 1,999 jobs.

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 Second Quarter 2026 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 27, 2027, 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.

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

Category	Gross job gains and losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	Mar. 2025	June 2025	Sept. 2025	Dec. 2025	Mar. 2026	Mar. 2025	June 2025	Sept. 2025	Dec. 2025	Mar. 2026
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	119,956	113,260	122,509	128,258	119,729	6.1	5.9	6.3	6.6	6.0
At expanding establishments	91,803	90,425	98,933	99,141	99,352	4.7	4.7	5.1	5.1	5.0
At opening establishments	28,153	22,835	23,576	29,117	20,377	1.4	1.2	1.2	1.5	1.0
Gross job losses	108,862	119,485	118,372	107,589	113,440	5.6	6.1	6.1	5.5	5.7
At contracting establishments	89,053	101,703	90,011	87,301	88,950	4.6	5.2	4.6	4.5	4.5
At closing establishments	19,809	17,782	28,361	20,288	24,490	1.0	0.9	1.5	1.0	1.2
Net employment change (2)	11,094	-6,225	4,137	20,669	6,289	0.5	-0.2	0.2	1.1	0.3
Construction
Gross job gains	10,053	9,138	8,679	9,250	8,977	8.2	7.3	6.9	7.3	7.0
At expanding establishments	7,649	7,273	6,767	7,374	7,163	6.2	5.8	5.4	5.8	5.6
At opening establishments	2,404	1,865	1,912	1,876	1,814	2.0	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.4
Gross job losses	7,569	7,870	8,237	7,517	8,235	6.2	6.3	6.6	5.9	6.4
At contracting establishments	5,596	6,378	6,398	5,875	6,176	4.6	5.1	5.1	4.6	4.8
At closing establishments	1,973	1,492	1,839	1,642	2,059	1.6	1.2	1.5	1.3	1.6
Net employment change (2)	2,484	1,268	442	1,733	742	2.0	1.0	0.3	1.4	0.6
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	7,477	8,012	8,852	7,627	7,560	2.8	3.0	3.4	2.9	2.9
At expanding establishments	6,414	6,673	7,112	6,204	6,331	2.4	2.5	2.7	2.4	2.4
At opening establishments	1,063	1,339	1,740	1,423	1,229	0.4	0.5	0.7	0.5	0.5
Gross job losses	8,097	7,949	8,917	7,336	7,037	3.1	3.0	3.4	2.8	2.7
At contracting establishments	7,497	6,802	7,310	6,631	6,200	2.9	2.6	2.8	2.5	2.4
At closing establishments	600	1,147	1,607	705	837	0.2	0.4	0.6	0.3	0.3
Net employment change (2)	-620	63	-65	291	523	-0.3	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	4,492	3,788	3,888	4,042	3,778	5.3	4.5	4.7	4.7	4.4
At expanding establishments	3,572	2,955	2,997	3,332	3,169	4.2	3.5	3.6	3.9	3.7
At opening establishments	920	833	891	710	609	1.1	1.0	1.1	0.8	0.7
Gross job losses	3,536	3,986	4,080	3,279	3,743	4.2	4.7	4.8	3.9	4.5
At contracting establishments	2,752	3,121	2,950	2,408	2,761	3.3	3.7	3.5	2.9	3.3
At closing establishments	784	865	1,130	871	982	0.9	1.0	1.3	1.0	1.2
Net employment change (2)	956	-198	-192	763	35	1.1	-0.2	-0.1	0.8	-0.1
Retail trade
Gross job gains	16,167	14,358	15,599	13,359	14,908	6.0	5.3	5.8	4.9	5.5
At expanding establishments	13,359	12,392	13,182	11,096	12,742	5.0	4.6	4.9	4.1	4.7
At opening establishments	2,808	1,966	2,417	2,263	2,166	1.0	0.7	0.9	0.8	0.8
Gross job losses	12,210	16,053	15,050	14,392	12,376	4.5	5.9	5.6	5.3	4.5
At contracting establishments	10,492	14,349	12,938	12,680	10,363	3.9	5.3	4.8	4.7	3.8
At closing establishments	1,718	1,704	2,112	1,712	2,013	0.6	0.6	0.8	0.6	0.7
Net employment change (2)	3,957	-1,695	549	-1,033	2,532	1.5	-0.6	0.2	-0.4	1.0
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	5,045	4,668	4,866	9,235	4,316	6.4	6.0	6.2	11.5	5.2
At expanding establishments	4,123	4,142	4,331	4,815	3,550	5.2	5.3	5.5	6.0	4.3
At opening establishments	922	526	535	4,420	766	1.2	0.7	0.7	5.5	0.9
Gross job losses	5,651	5,097	4,259	4,625	6,423	7.1	6.5	5.4	5.7	7.9
At contracting establishments	4,959	4,494	3,452	4,042	5,786	6.2	5.7	4.4	5.0	7.1
At closing establishments	692	603	807	583	637	0.9	0.8	1.0	0.7	0.8
Net employment change (2)	-606	-429	607	4,610	-2,107	-0.7	-0.5	0.8	5.8	-2.7
Information
Gross job gains	1,670	1,736	1,541	1,643	1,567	6.1	6.3	5.5	6.0	5.7
At expanding establishments	1,043	1,054	1,178	1,004	1,213	3.8	3.8	4.2	3.7	4.4
At opening establishments	627	682	363	639	354	2.3	2.5	1.3	2.3	1.3
Gross job losses	1,798	1,359	2,544	2,042	1,521	6.5	5.0	9.1	7.5	5.5
At contracting establishments	1,514	1,037	1,725	1,315	1,074	5.5	3.8	6.2	4.8	3.9
At closing establishments	284	322	819	727	447	1.0	1.2	2.9	2.7	1.6
Net employment change (2)	-128	377	-1,003	-399	46	-0.4	1.3	-3.6	-1.5	0.2
Financial activities
Gross job gains	6,237	7,067	6,122	7,119	6,210	5.2	5.8	5.0	5.9	5.1
At expanding establishments	4,467	5,444	4,777	4,856	4,781	3.7	4.5	3.9	4.0	3.9
At opening establishments	1,770	1,623	1,345	2,263	1,429	1.5	1.3	1.1	1.9	1.2
Gross job losses	5,603	6,135	6,601	5,803	6,568	4.7	5.1	5.5	4.7	5.4
At contracting establishments	4,209	4,827	4,460	4,167	4,276	3.5	4.0	3.7	3.4	3.5
At closing establishments	1,394	1,308	2,141	1,636	2,292	1.2	1.1	1.8	1.3	1.9
Net employment change (2)	634	932	-479	1,316	-358	0.5	0.7	-0.5	1.2	-0.3
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	25,818	21,366	27,181	25,284	22,948	8.2	6.7	8.6	7.9	7.2
At expanding establishments	18,961	16,501	21,610	19,631	18,515	6.0	5.2	6.8	6.1	5.8
At opening establishments	6,857	4,865	5,571	5,653	4,433	2.2	1.5	1.8	1.8	1.4
Gross job losses	20,768	27,623	24,814	23,762	21,969	6.5	8.7	7.9	7.4	6.9
At contracting establishments	16,273	23,810	17,009	18,514	16,526	5.1	7.5	5.4	5.8	5.2
At closing establishments	4,495	3,813	7,805	5,248	5,443	1.4	1.2	2.5	1.6	1.7
Net employment change (2)	5,050	-6,257	2,367	1,522	979	1.7	-2.0	0.7	0.5	0.3
Education and health services
Gross job gains	14,642	14,626	15,542	16,259	21,414	5.2	5.1	5.4	5.6	7.3
At expanding establishments	10,754	11,459	13,012	12,732	19,172	3.8	4.0	4.5	4.4	6.5
At opening establishments	3,888	3,167	2,530	3,527	2,242	1.4	1.1	0.9	1.2	0.8
Gross job losses	13,751	12,374	12,433	13,976	15,076	4.9	4.4	4.3	4.8	5.0
At contracting establishments	9,814	9,942	9,139	10,771	10,503	3.5	3.5	3.2	3.7	3.5
At closing establishments	3,937	2,432	3,294	3,205	4,573	1.4	0.9	1.1	1.1	1.5
Net employment change (2)	891	2,252	3,109	2,283	6,338	0.3	0.7	1.1	0.8	2.3
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	21,428	22,816	23,967	27,877	21,882	7.4	8.0	8.5	9.7	7.5
At expanding establishments	16,295	17,928	19,089	23,248	17,847	5.6	6.3	6.8	8.1	6.1
At opening establishments	5,133	4,888	4,878	4,629	4,035	1.8	1.7	1.7	1.6	1.4
Gross job losses	23,708	25,307	25,427	19,124	23,881	8.2	8.9	9.1	6.7	8.2
At contracting establishments	21,084	22,204	20,161	16,276	20,160	7.3	7.8	7.2	5.7	6.9
At closing establishments	2,624	3,103	5,266	2,848	3,721	0.9	1.1	1.9	1.0	1.3
Net employment change (2)	-2,280	-2,491	-1,460	8,753	-1,999	-0.8	-0.9	-0.6	3.0	-0.7
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	4,975	4,599	4,595	5,058	4,670	8.1	7.3	7.3	8.2	7.6
At expanding establishments	3,483	3,633	3,531	3,657	3,644	5.7	5.8	5.6	5.9	5.9
At opening establishments	1,492	966	1,064	1,401	1,026	2.4	1.5	1.7	2.3	1.7
Gross job losses	4,029	4,209	4,771	4,436	5,056	6.6	6.7	7.6	7.1	8.1
At contracting establishments	3,394	3,453	3,439	3,551	3,915	5.6	5.5	5.5	5.7	6.3
At closing establishments	635	756	1,332	885	1,141	1.0	1.2	2.1	1.4	1.8
Net employment change (2)	946	390	-176	622	-386	1.5	0.6	-0.3	1.1	-0.5
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. (3) Except public administration.