From September 2014 to December 2014, gross job gains in Oklahoma totaled 85,104 while gross job losses numbered 69,389, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 15,715, the second highest level since the series began in September 1992. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 6,816.

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.)

The number of gross job gains in Oklahoma rose by 8,608 between September and December 2014. (See chart 1.) Oklahoma’s gross job gains have remained above 75,000 for seven consecutive quarters. Gross job losses edged down 291 in the three months ended in December 2014, after falling by more than 6,000 in the previous quarter. During the most recent five-year period, job losses in the state peaked in December 2013 when more than 77,000 jobs were lost.

Gross job gains represented 6.7 percent of private sector employment in Oklahoma in the quarter ended December 2014; nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.6 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) With few exceptions, Oklahoma’s rates of gross job gains have generally tracked with the U.S. rates. In the fourth quarter of 2014, Oklahoma’s rate of gross job losses as a percent of private sector employment was 5.5 percent compared to the national rate of 5.6 percent. The rate of gross job losses in Oklahoma generally mirrored the national rate until December 2012, but had exhibited greater variability in recent quarters before remaining at 5.5 percent in both the third and fourth quarters of 2014.

During the fourth quarter 2014, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in all 11 industry sectors in Oklahoma. For example, opening and expanding establishments in professional and business services created more than 16,600 jobs during the period, though nearly 13,000 jobs were lost at closing and contracting establishments. The resulting net gain of 3,697 jobs was the largest of any sector in the fourth quarter 2014. In education and health services, a gain of approximately 10,000 jobs at opening and expanding establishments more than offset the loss of nearly 7,700 jobs at closing and contracting establishments and resulted in a net gain of 2,322 jobs in the three months ended in December 2014. Other industries showing net job gains of more than 1,000 included leisure and hospitality (1,904), retail trade (1,603), manufacturing (1,463), and transportation and warehousing (1,074). (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 release for First Quarter 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 18, 2015.

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, Oklahoma, 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)
	Dec. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Dec. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	77,204	76,411	77,458	76,496	85,104	6.2	6.1	6.2	6.1	6.7
At expanding establishments	61,498	62,366	63,658	62,772	68,544	4.9	5.0	5.1	5.0	5.4
At opening establishments	15,706	14,045	13,800	13,724	16,560	1.3	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.3
Gross job losses	77,423	74,634	76,244	69,680	69,389	6.2	6.0	6.1	5.5	5.5
At contracting establishments	62,601	57,401	61,316	59,560	56,663	5.0	4.6	4.9	4.7	4.5
At closing establishments	14,822	17,233	14,928	10,120	12,726	1.2	1.4	1.2	0.8	1.0
Net employment change (2)	-219	1,777	1,214	6,816	15,715	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.6	1.2
Construction
Gross job gains	8,536	8,094	7,302	8,396	8,295	11.2	10.7	9.8	11.3	10.9
At expanding establishments	6,729	6,373	5,662	6,722	6,698	8.8	8.4	7.6	9.0	8.8
At opening establishments	1,807	1,721	1,640	1,674	1,597	2.4	2.3	2.2	2.3	2.1
Gross job losses	8,233	9,109	10,080	6,584	7,377	10.8	12.0	13.5	8.9	9.8
At contracting establishments	6,704	6,732	8,362	5,326	5,814	8.8	8.9	11.2	7.2	7.7
At closing establishments	1,529	2,377	1,718	1,258	1,563	2.0	3.1	2.3	1.7	2.1
Net employment change (2)	303	-1,015	-2,778	1,812	918	0.4	-1.3	-3.7	2.4	1.1
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	4,348	5,655	5,455	4,668	5,541	3.2	4.2	3.9	3.3	3.9
At expanding establishments	3,998	4,586	5,118	4,381	5,109	2.9	3.4	3.7	3.1	3.6
At opening establishments	350	1,069	337	287	432	0.3	0.8	0.2	0.2	0.3
Gross job losses	5,147	3,975	4,060	4,323	4,078	3.8	2.9	2.9	3.1	2.9
At contracting establishments	3,870	3,160	3,516	3,857	3,534	2.9	2.3	2.5	2.8	2.5
At closing establishments	1,277	815	544	466	544	0.9	0.6	0.4	0.3	0.4
Net employment change (2)	-799	1,680	1,395	345	1,463	-0.6	1.3	1.0	0.2	1.0
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	3,320	3,296	3,005	3,317	3,388	5.3	5.3	4.8	5.3	5.3
At expanding establishments	2,668	2,668	2,468	2,651	2,655	4.3	4.3	3.9	4.2	4.2
At opening establishments	652	628	537	666	733	1.0	1.0	0.9	1.1	1.1
Gross job losses	2,881	2,753	3,150	2,704	2,993	4.6	4.4	5.0	4.2	4.7
At contracting establishments	2,269	2,020	2,473	2,174	2,284	3.6	3.2	3.9	3.4	3.6
At closing establishments	612	733	677	530	709	1.0	1.2	1.1	0.8	1.1
Net employment change (2)	439	543	-145	613	395	0.7	0.9	-0.2	1.1	0.6
Retail trade
Gross job gains	11,567	10,004	11,249	10,836	11,373	6.5	5.6	6.3	6.1	6.3
At expanding establishments	9,818	8,523	9,682	9,254	9,990	5.5	4.8	5.4	5.2	5.5
At opening establishments	1,749	1,481	1,567	1,582	1,383	1.0	0.8	0.9	0.9	0.8
Gross job losses	10,306	10,932	10,339	10,343	9,770	5.8	6.1	5.8	5.8	5.4
At contracting establishments	8,701	9,307	9,124	9,464	8,436	4.9	5.2	5.1	5.3	4.7
At closing establishments	1,605	1,625	1,215	879	1,334	0.9	0.9	0.7	0.5	0.7
Net employment change (2)	1,261	-928	910	493	1,603	0.7	-0.5	0.5	0.3	0.9
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	2,454	3,243	2,243	2,296	2,961	5.5	7.2	4.9	5.1	6.5
At expanding establishments	1,820	2,581	1,871	2,017	2,516	4.1	5.7	4.1	4.5	5.5
At opening establishments	634	662	372	279	445	1.4	1.5	0.8	0.6	1.0
Gross job losses	2,309	2,319	3,150	2,544	1,887	5.2	5.1	6.9	5.7	4.2
At contracting establishments	1,808	1,592	2,544	2,195	1,479	4.1	3.5	5.6	4.9	3.3
At closing establishments	501	727	606	349	408	1.1	1.6	1.3	0.8	0.9
Net employment change (2)	145	924	-907	-248	1,074	0.3	2.1	-2.0	-0.6	2.3
Information
Gross job gains	910	778	944	899	1,152	4.2	3.5	4.3	4.1	5.2
At expanding establishments	694	662	807	677	705	3.2	3.0	3.7	3.1	3.2
At opening establishments	216	116	137	222	447	1.0	0.5	0.6	1.0	2.0
Gross job losses	986	882	986	925	879	4.5	4.1	4.5	4.2	4.0
At contracting establishments	871	695	704	767	768	4.0	3.2	3.2	3.5	3.5
At closing establishments	115	187	282	158	111	0.5	0.9	1.3	0.7	0.5
Net employment change (2)	-76	-104	-42	-26	273	-0.3	-0.6	-0.2	-0.1	1.2
Financial activities
Gross job gains	4,181	3,623	3,841	3,988	4,506	5.4	4.7	5.1	5.2	5.8
At expanding establishments	3,088	2,940	2,942	3,207	3,549	4.0	3.8	3.9	4.2	4.6
At opening establishments	1,093	683	899	781	957	1.4	0.9	1.2	1.0	1.2
Gross job losses	4,047	4,079	3,929	3,201	3,816	5.2	5.3	5.1	4.1	4.9
At contracting establishments	2,984	3,012	2,917	2,558	2,961	3.8	3.9	3.8	3.3	3.8
At closing establishments	1,063	1,067	1,012	643	855	1.4	1.4	1.3	0.8	1.1
Net employment change (2)	134	-456	-88	787	690	0.2	-0.6	0.0	1.1	0.9
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	14,663	14,378	14,390	13,206	16,688	8.1	7.8	7.8	7.1	9.0
At expanding establishments	11,111	11,955	11,683	10,395	13,553	6.1	6.5	6.3	5.6	7.3
At opening establishments	3,552	2,423	2,707	2,811	3,135	2.0	1.3	1.5	1.5	1.7
Gross job losses	14,062	13,296	14,093	13,100	12,991	7.8	7.3	7.6	7.1	7.0
At contracting establishments	11,163	10,379	10,349	11,033	10,241	6.2	5.7	5.6	6.0	5.5
At closing establishments	2,899	2,917	3,744	2,067	2,750	1.6	1.6	2.0	1.1	1.5
Net employment change (2)	601	1,082	297	106	3,697	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.0	2.0
Education and health services
Gross job gains	8,960	8,809	8,816	8,587	10,017	4.4	4.4	4.4	4.2	5.0
At expanding establishments	7,521	7,164	7,582	6,746	7,661	3.7	3.6	3.8	3.3	3.8
At opening establishments	1,439	1,645	1,234	1,841	2,356	0.7	0.8	0.6	0.9	1.2
Gross job losses	9,762	9,234	8,094	9,034	7,695	4.8	4.6	4.0	4.5	3.8
At contracting establishments	7,889	7,036	6,328	7,169	6,123	3.9	3.5	3.1	3.6	3.0
At closing establishments	1,873	2,198	1,766	1,865	1,572	0.9	1.1	0.9	0.9	0.8
Net employment change (2)	-802	-425	722	-447	2,322	-0.4	-0.2	0.4	-0.3	1.2
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	11,642	12,001	12,695	12,664	13,545	7.5	7.9	8.2	8.2	8.6
At expanding establishments	8,964	9,481	9,601	10,404	9,942	5.8	6.2	6.2	6.7	6.3
At opening establishments	2,678	2,520	3,094	2,260	3,603	1.7	1.7	2.0	1.5	2.3
Gross job losses	12,368	11,463	12,174	11,130	11,641	8.0	7.6	7.9	7.2	7.4
At contracting establishments	10,346	8,493	10,280	10,195	10,102	6.7	5.6	6.7	6.6	6.4
At closing establishments	2,022	2,970	1,894	935	1,539	1.3	2.0	1.2	0.6	1.0
Net employment change (2)	-726	538	521	1,534	1,904	-0.5	0.3	0.3	1.0	1.2
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	2,422	2,529	2,762	2,459	2,761	7.1	7.5	8.2	7.3	8.2
At expanding establishments	1,830	2,102	2,178	1,983	2,081	5.4	6.2	6.5	5.9	6.2
At opening establishments	592	427	584	476	680	1.7	1.3	1.7	1.4	2.0
Gross job losses	3,066	2,688	2,783	2,551	2,569	9.0	8.0	8.2	7.5	7.6
At contracting establishments	2,592	1,883	2,100	2,067	1,865	7.6	5.6	6.2	6.1	5.5
At closing establishments	474	805	683	484	704	1.4	2.4	2.0	1.4	2.1
Net employment change (2)	-644	-159	-21	-92	192	-1.9	-0.5	0.0	-0.2	0.6
(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.

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

State	Gross job gains as a percent of employment (3 months ended)					Gross job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	Dec. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014	Dec. 2013	Mar. 2014	June 2014	Sept. 2014	Dec. 2014
United States(1)	6.4	6.0	6.5	6.2	6.6	5.8	5.7	5.6	5.8	5.6
Alabama	6.0	5.6	5.9	5.9	6.0	5.3	5.7	5.5	5.4	5.2
Alaska	10.1	10.8	10.9	9.4	10.5	10.4	9.6	10.9	10.4	10.3
Arizona	6.7	5.7	6.0	6.4	7.0	5.4	6.0	6.0	5.4	5.2
Arkansas	6.0	5.8	5.6	5.9	6.5	5.5	5.0	4.9	5.3	4.9
California	7.3	6.8	7.0	7.0	7.3	6.3	6.1	6.4	6.0	6.5
Colorado	6.9	6.7	7.3	7.3	7.0	6.1	5.9	6.1	6.2	6.1
Connecticut	5.3	5.1	5.6	5.2	5.4	5.4	5.0	4.8	5.3	5.1
Delaware	6.6	6.3	6.5	6.0	7.0	5.8	5.9	5.2	6.1	5.4
District of Columbia	5.8	5.9	6.4	5.7	5.3	5.4	5.5	5.7	5.5	5.5
Florida	7.0	6.5	7.2	7.2	7.1	6.0	5.8	6.2	5.9	6.0
Georgia	6.8	6.5	6.8	6.8	7.0	5.8	5.6	5.9	5.9	5.6
Hawaii	5.4	4.8	4.9	5.2	5.2	4.5	5.1	5.1	4.7	4.4
Idaho	8.3	8.4	7.7	7.5	7.9	7.3	7.2	8.0	7.3	6.5
Illinois	5.8	5.8	6.1	5.7	6.2	5.3	5.5	5.5	5.8	5.5
Indiana	6.1	5.3	5.9	5.3	6.3	5.1	5.5	5.0	5.3	5.0
Iowa	6.0	5.8	6.2	5.7	6.1	5.5	5.5	5.7	5.7	5.6
Kansas	6.2	5.7	6.1	5.7	6.2	5.3	5.5	5.7	5.8	5.3
Kentucky	6.5	6.1	6.2	6.1	6.6	5.4	5.9	5.5	5.4	5.3
Louisiana	6.7	6.7	6.6	6.6	6.8	6.1	5.8	6.4	5.8	5.8
Maine	7.0	6.7	7.8	6.7	7.1	7.5	7.0	6.5	7.1	7.2
Maryland	6.4	5.9	6.6	6.5	6.6	6.3	5.8	5.8	6.2	6.2
Massachusetts	5.4	5.3	6.3	5.6	6.0	5.3	5.0	5.3	5.5	5.3
Michigan	6.0	5.5	6.4	5.5	6.2	5.6	5.1	5.4	5.8	5.2
Minnesota	5.6	5.3	6.5	5.5	5.8	5.6	5.7	5.1	5.9	5.4
Mississippi	6.6	5.7	6.1	6.2	6.8	5.6	5.9	6.7	6.0	5.2
Missouri	6.0	5.6	6.0	5.6	6.3	5.5	5.5	5.3	5.6	5.1
Montana	8.2	7.2	8.2	8.0	8.5	7.5	7.9	7.7	8.1	8.0
Nebraska	6.3	5.9	6.0	6.0	6.2	5.7	5.6	6.0	5.7	5.6
Nevada	6.3	6.6	6.7	6.6	6.6	5.3	5.2	5.6	5.5	5.3
New Hampshire	6.8	5.7	6.7	5.9	6.9	5.8	5.9	6.1	6.3	6.0
New Jersey	6.4	5.9	6.9	6.3	6.9	6.4	6.2	5.8	6.3	6.1
New Mexico	6.9	6.3	6.6	6.5	7.0	6.4	6.4	6.1	6.1	6.0
New York	6.6	6.2	6.6	6.4	6.5	6.0	6.0	5.7	6.0	5.8
North Carolina	6.4	5.9	6.4	6.1	6.5	5.7	5.6	5.5	5.8	5.4
North Dakota	8.2	8.6	7.6	8.2	8.7	6.9	6.8	7.0	6.7	6.7
Ohio	6.0	5.6	6.1	5.5	6.1	5.3	5.6	5.3	5.5	5.1
Oklahoma	6.2	6.1	6.2	6.1	6.7	6.2	6.0	6.1	5.5	5.5
Oregon	6.9	7.0	6.9	7.0	7.1	6.6	6.1	6.4	6.0	6.3
Pennsylvania	5.4	5.2	5.6	5.2	5.6	5.2	4.9	4.8	5.1	4.8
Rhode Island	6.2	5.7	6.5	5.9	6.4	5.7	5.7	5.5	5.8	5.6
South Carolina	6.7	6.2	6.5	6.1	6.8	5.5	5.8	5.7	5.8	5.0
South Dakota	6.9	6.3	6.4	6.2	6.3	6.0	6.1	6.0	6.0	5.8
Tennessee	6.3	5.4	5.6	5.7	6.3	4.7	5.3	5.0	5.0	4.7
Texas	6.1	5.9	6.0	6.0	6.4	5.3	5.1	4.9	5.1	4.9
Utah	7.4	6.5	7.0	7.1	7.1	6.1	6.0	6.6	6.0	5.8
Vermont	7.6	6.7	7.4	6.8	7.5	6.6	6.8	6.9	7.2	6.7
Virginia	5.7	5.3	6.2	5.6	5.8	5.6	5.5	5.5	5.8	5.5
Washington	6.9	6.6	7.3	7.0	7.1	6.3	5.9	5.5	6.0	5.9
West Virginia	6.5	6.3	6.6	6.1	6.6	6.4	6.7	6.4	6.6	6.0
Wisconsin	5.7	5.3	5.9	5.3	5.7	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.6	5.1
Wyoming	9.4	8.4	8.7	8.3	9.2	8.1	8.0	8.2	8.4	8.1
Puerto Rico	6.6	5.1	5.6	5.6	6.5	5.2	6.4	6.3	5.9	5.0
Virgin Islands	5.5	4.9	6.1	6.3	6.2	6.0	6.1	6.4	5.5	5.5
(1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.