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Economic News Release
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Quarterly Data Series on Business Employment Dynamics News Release



Technical Information:  (202) 691-6553     USDL 09-0978
                http://www.bls.gov/bdm/

                                           For release: 10:00 A.M. EDT
Media Contact:          (202) 691-5902     Wednesday, August 19, 2009


          BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS:  FOURTH QUARTER 2008          


   From September 2008 to December 2008 the number of job gains from
opening and expanding private sector establishments was 6.7 million,
and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments
was 8.5 million, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.  (See tables A, 1 and 3.)
Over this period, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in all
but two industry sectors: utilities and education and health services.
(See tables B and 3.)

   The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data series include gross job
gains and gross job losses at the establishment level by major
industry sector and 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.

   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 units 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 units and the addition of new
jobs at opening units.  Gross job losses are the result of
contractions in employment at existing units and the loss of jobs at
closing units.  The difference between the number of gross jobs gained
and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.
(See the Technical Note for more information.)



Table A.  Three-month private sector gross job gains and losses,
seasonally adjusted

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  |            3 months ended           
                                  |-------------------------------------
                                  | Dec.  | Mar. | June | Sept.| Dec.   
           Category               | 2007  | 2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008   
                                  |-------------------------------------
                                  |         Levels (in thousands)       
----------------------------------|-------------------------------------
                                  |       |      |      |      |        
Gross job gains...................|  7,676| 7,130| 7,258| 6,822| 6,712  
  At expanding establishments.....|  6,220| 5,731| 5,858| 5,504| 5,367  
  At opening establishments.......|  1,456| 1,399| 1,400| 1,318| 1,345  
                                  |       |      |      |      |        
Gross job losses..................|  7,366| 7,400| 7,751| 7,754| 8,467  
  At contracting establishments...|  6,010| 6,047| 6,277| 6,383| 6,977  
  At closing establishments.......|  1,356| 1,353| 1,474| 1,371| 1,490  
                                  |       |      |      |      |        
Net employment change (1).........|    310|  -270|  -493|  -932|-1,755  
                                  |-------------------------------------
                                  |           Rates (percent)           
                                  |-------------------------------------
Gross job gains...................|    6.8|   6.2|   6.4|   6.1|   6.0  
  At expanding establishments.....|    5.5|   5.0|   5.2|   4.9|   4.8  
  At opening establishments.......|    1.3|   1.2|   1.2|   1.2|   1.2  
                                  |       |      |      |      |        
Gross job losses..................|    6.5|   6.5|   6.8|   6.9|   7.6  
  At contracting establishments...|    5.3|   5.3|   5.5|   5.7|   6.3  
  At closing establishments.......|    1.2|   1.2|   1.3|   1.2|   1.3  
                                  |       |      |      |      |        
Net employment change (1).........|     .3|   -.3|   -.4|   -.8|  -1.6  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 The net employment change is the difference between total gross job
gains and total gross job losses.  See the Technical Note for further
information.



Private Sector Establishment-Level Gross Job Gains and Gross Job Losses

   Opening and expanding private sector business establishments gained
6.7 million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decrease of 110,000
from the previous quarter.  Over the quarter, expanding establishments
added 5.4 million jobs while opening establishments added 1.3 million
jobs.

   Gross job losses totaled 8.5 million, an increase of 713,000 from the
previous quarter.  During the quarter, contracting establishments lost
7.0 million jobs, while closing establishments lost 1.5 million jobs.
(See tables A, 1, and 3.)

   The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number
of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of -1,755,000 jobs in the
private sector for fourth quarter 2008.

   Gross job gains represented 6.0 percent of private sector employment,
while gross job losses represented 7.6 percent of private sector
employment.  (See tables A and 2.)

Major Industry Sector Gross Job Gains and Gross Job Losses

   From September 2008 to December 2008, gross job losses exceeded gross
job gains in all but two industry sectors: utilities and education and
health services.  (See tables B and 3.)

   Goods-producing.  Expanding and opening establishments in the goods-
producing sectors accounted for 1,302,000 jobs gained, and contracting
and closing establishments accounted for 2,063,000 jobs lost.  This
net loss of 761,000 jobs was the tenth consecutive quarter of net loss
for these sectors of the economy.

   Construction.  In construction, gross job gains fell over the quarter
to 639,000.  This was the lowest level of gross job gains since the
series began in third quarter of 1992.  The construction sector
experienced a net loss of 337,000 jobs, as gross job losses increased by
100,000 to 976,000.  This was the seventh consecutive quarter of net job
losses in this sector.

   Manufacturing.  Gross job gains fell to 378,000 while gross job
losses increased to 801,000.  The net loss of 423,000 jobs was the tenth
consecutive quarter of net job losses in the manufacturing sector.

   Service-providing.  In the service-providing sectors, gross job gains
decreased to 5,410,000 and gross job losses increased to 6,404,000,
resulting in a net loss of 994,000 jobs.  Job gains at expanding
establishments decreased to 4,280,000 jobs, while job losses at
contracting establishments increased to 5,226,000 jobs.

   Retail Trade.  In retail trade, gross job gains decreased to
835,000.  Gross job losses increased to 1,181,000 for a net loss of
346,000 jobs.  This was the largest net loss in this industry since the
series began in 1992, driven by the lowest total of gross job gains in
the history of this series.

   Education and Health Services.  Gross job gains increased to 841,000
jobs in the fourth quarter, while gross job losses decreased to 665,000.
This industry sector is the only one which has experienced a net
positive change in every quarter since this series began in 1992.

   Financial Activities.  Gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in
the financial sector for the seventh consecutive quarter.  Altough gross
job gains increased to 388,000, gross job losses also increased to
497,000, resulting in a net loss of 109,000 jobs in the fourth quarter.



Table B.  Three-month private sector gross job gains and losses by industry,
seasonally adjusted

(In thousands)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       |       Gross job gains       |      Gross job losses       
                       |       (3 months ended)      |      (3 months ended)       
       Industry        |-----------------------------|-----------------------------
                       |Dec. |Mar. |June |Sept.|Dec. |Dec. |Mar. |June |Sept.|Dec. 
                       |2007 |2008 |2008 |2008 |2008 |2007 |2008 |2008 |2008 |2008 
-----------------------|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----|-----
                       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
  Total private (1)....|7,676|7,130|7,258|6,822|6,712|7,366|7,400|7,751|7,754|8,467
 Goods-Producing.......|1,573|1,493|1,494|1,397|1,302|1,701|1,758|1,778|1,767|2,063
  Natural resources    |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
    and mining.........|  292|  274|  280|  274|  285|  261|  293|  268|  255|  286
  Construction ........|  784|  763|  737|  698|  639|  875|  869|  922|  876|  976
  Manufacturing .......|  497|  456|  477|  425|  378|  565|  596|  588|  636|  801
 Service-Providing (1).|6,103|5,637|5,764|5,425|5,410|5,665|5,642|5,973|5,987|6,404
  Wholesale trade......|  321|  294|  295|  272|  259|  301|  306|  314|  313|  364
  Retail trade ........|1,022|  954|  939|  892|  835|1,011|  979|1,080|1,062|1,181
  Transportation and   |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
    warehousing........|  254|  208|  225|  208|  238|  229|  250|  253|  250|  283
  Utilities............|   15|   13|   16|   14|   13|   11|   10|   12|   13|   12
  Information..........|  145|  154|  162|  135|  137|  155|  153|  161|  168|	191
  Financial activities.|  432|  412|  394|  376|  388|  486|  436|  455|  460|	497
  Professional and     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
    business services..|1,440|1,239|1,345|1,231|1,234|1,337|1,358|1,433|1,411|1,619
  Education and        |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
    health services....|  814|  785|  788|  799|  841|  666|  667|  715|  706|	665
  Leisure and          |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     
    hospitality........|1,247|1,158|1,183|1,114|1,111|1,148|1,154|1,218|1,259|1,235
  Other services.......|  296|  290|  300|  280|  265|  287|  289|  293|  307|	322
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 Includes unclassified sector, not shown separately.



Number of Establishments Gaining and Losing Employment

   Another way to look at the dynamics of business activities is to
monitor the number and proportion of business units that are growing
and declining.  In the fourth quarter of 2008, the number of
establishments losing jobs exceeded the number of establishments
gaining jobs.

   Of the 7.0 million active private-sector establishments, a total of
2,091,000 establishments lost jobs from September 2008 to December 2008.
(See table C.)  Of these establishments, 1,686,000 were contracting
establishments and 405,000 were closing establishments.  Of the
establishments gaining jobs, 1,376,000 establishments were expanding
and 368,000 establishments were opening, resulting in 1,744,000
establishments gaining jobs.

   The number of closing establishments exceeded the number of opening
establishments, resulting in a net loss of 37,000 private-sector
establishments during the quarter.  This was the seventh quarter that
there has been a net decline in the number of establishments since 1992,
and the fifth time a decline occurred in the past seven quarters.



Table C.  Number of private sector establishments by direction of
employment change, seasonally adjusted

(In thousands)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  |             3 months ended           
                                  |--------------------------------------
             Category             |  Dec. |  Mar. | June | Sept.| Dec.   
                                  |  2007 |  2008 | 2008 | 2008 | 2008   
----------------------------------|-------|-------|------|------|--------
Establishments gaining jobs.......|  1,940|  1,874| 1,834| 1,788| 1,744  
  Expanding establishments........|  1,558|  1,517| 1,479| 1,439| 1,376  
  Opening establishments..........|    382|    357|   355|   349|   368  
                                  |       |       |      |      |        
Establishments losing jobs........|  1,935|  1,976| 2,024| 1,987| 2,091  
  Contracting establishments......|  1,575|  1,596| 1,633| 1,608| 1,686  
  Closing establishments..........|    360|    380|   391|   379|   405  
                                  |       |       |      |      |        
Net establishment change (1)......|     22|    -23|   -36|   -30|   -37  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 The net establishment change is the difference between the number of
opening establishments and the number of closing establishments.  See the
Technical Note for further information.


Establishment Births and Deaths

   From September 2008 to December 2008, a total of 189,000 new private
sector nonfarm business establishments created 794,000 jobs.  This was
2,000 more establishment births than in the prior quarter, but 19,000
fewer jobs were gained from these births.  The jobs created by these new
establishments represent 11.8 percent of total gross job gains. The
historical time series of birth data shows the number of establishment
births has remained around 200,000 every quarter, while employment from
births dropped from a high of 1.3 million in the first quarter 1998 to a
low of 794,000 in the fourth quarter of 2008. (See Table 7.)

Gross Job Gains and Losses by State

   In the fourth quarter of 2008, Louisiana and North Dakota
experienced net employment growth, while 48 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands experienced net job
losses.  Alabama, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, and South Carolina showed
rates of gross job gains below the U.S. rate of 6.0 percent and rates
of gross job losses above the U.S. rate of 7.6 percent.  (See tables 5
and 6.)

Firm-level Gross Job Gains and Gross Job Losses by Size Class

   From September 2008 to December 2008, the share of gross job gains
accounted for by firms with 1 to 4 employees rose from 16.1 to 16.8
percent.  Firms with 1,000 or more employees experienced an increase in
the share of gross job losses from 19.4 to 20.7 percent.  (See tables D
and 4.)


Table D.  Three-month private sector share (1) of gross job gains and losses by firm
size, seasonally adjusted

(Percent)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       |   Share of gross job gains   |   Share of gross job losses  
                       |        (3 months ended)      |        (3 months ended)      
       Firm size       |------------------------------|------------------------------
                       | Dec. |Mar. |June |Sept.|Dec. | Dec. |Mar. |June |Sept.|Dec. 
                       | 2007 |2008 |2008 |2008 |2008 | 2007 |2008 |2008 |2008 |2008 
-----------------------|------|-----|-----|-----|-----|------|-----|-----|-----|-----
                       |      |     |     |     |     |      |     |     |     |     
   1  -   4 employees..|  15.6| 16.2| 15.4| 16.1| 16.8|  16.1| 16.7| 16.0| 15.3| 14.5
   5  -   9 employees..|  11.5| 12.4| 11.9| 12.1| 11.7|  12.3| 12.4| 11.9| 11.4| 10.8
  10  -  19 employees..|  11.7| 12.6| 12.2| 12.2| 11.8|  12.4| 12.4| 12.0| 11.6| 11.2
  20  -  49 employees..|  13.8| 14.8| 14.5| 14.3| 13.6|  14.5| 14.3| 14.0| 13.9| 13.6
  50  -  99 employees..|   8.8|  9.1|  9.1|  9.1|  8.6|   9.0|  8.8|  8.7|  8.7|  8.9
 100  - 249 employees..|   9.3|  9.5|  9.7|  9.5|  9.2|   9.1|  8.9|  9.0|  9.4|  9.6
 250  - 499 employees..|   5.6|  5.6|  5.7|  5.8|  5.5|   5.4|  5.3|  5.5|  5.6|  5.9
 500  - 999 employees..|   4.5|  4.4|  4.7|  4.7|  4.6|   4.5|  4.2|  4.7|  4.8|  5.0
1,000 or more employees|  19.2| 15.2| 16.8| 16.3| 18.2|  16.7| 16.9| 18.2| 19.4| 20.7
                       |      |     |     |     |     |      |     |     |     |     
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1 Shares measure the percent of the category represented by firm size,
     and rates may not sum to 100.0 due to rounding.



More Information

   Additional information on gross job gains and gross job losses are
available online at http://www.bls.gov/bdm.  This information includes
data on the levels and rates of gross job gains and gross job losses by
firm size, the not seasonally adjusted data and other seasonally adjusted
time series not presented in this release, charts of gross job gains and
gross job losses by industry and firm size, and frequently asked
questions on firm-size data.  Additional information about the
Business Employment Dynamics data can be found in the Technical Note
of this release or may be obtained by e-mailing BDMinfo@bls.gov.


 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
|     Upcoming Changes to the Business Employment Dynamics         |
|                          News Release                            |
|                                                                  |
|    Beginning with the next edition of the Business Employment    |
| Dynamics news release scheduled for publication on November 19,  |
| 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will introduce changes in   |
| the presentation of the text section of the release.  There will |
| be no changes to the format and content of tables 1-7.           |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
 

 ------------------------------------------------------------------
|     Comparing Business Employment Dynamics Data with Current     |
|     Employment Statistics and Quarterly Census of Employment     |
|                           and Wages Data                         |
|                                                                  |
|    The net change in employment from Business Employment         |
| Dynamics (BED) data series will not match the net change in      |
| employment from the monthly Current Employment Statistics (CES)  |
| survey.  The CES estimates are based on monthly surveys from a   |
| sample of establishments, while gross job gains and gross job    |
| losses are based on a quarterly census of administrative records.|
| In addition, the CES has a different coverage, excluding the     |
| agriculture sector but including establishments not covered by   |
| the unemployment insurance program.  The net over-the-quarter    |
| changes derived by aggregating component series in the BED data  |
| may be different from the net employment change estimated from   |
| the CES seasonally adjusted total employment series.  The in-    |
| tended use of the BED statistics is to show the dynamic labor    |
| market flows that underlie the net changes in aggregate employ-  |
| ment levels; data users who want to track net changes in aggre-  |
| gate employment levels over time should refer to CES data.       |
|                                                                  |
|    BED data have a more limited scope than the Quarterly Census  |
| of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data.  The data in this release,  |
| in contrast to the QCEW data, exclude government employees,      |
| private households (NAICS 814110), and establishments with zero  |
| employment.                                                      |
|                                                                  |
|    See the Technical Note for further information.               |
 ------------------------------------------------------------------ 


                                                                 
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 by the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing quarterly state unemployment
insurance (UI) records.  Most employers in the U.S. are required to file
quarterly reports on the employment and wages of workers covered by UI
laws, and to pay quarterly UI taxes.  The quarterly UI reports are sent by
the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) to BLS and form the basis of the BLS 
establishment universe sampling frame.  These reports also are used to pro-
duce the quarterly QCEW data on total employment and wages and the longitu-
dinal BED data on gross job gains and losses.  Other important BLS uses 
of the UI reports are in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. 
(See table below for differences between QCEW, CES, and BED.)
                                     
   In the BED program, the quarterly UI 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 establish-
ments.

Differences between QCEW, BED, and CES employment measures

   The BLS publishes three different establishment-based employment mea-
sures for any given quarter.  Each of these measures--QCEW, BED, and CES--
makes use of the quarterly UI employment reports in producing data; how-
ever, each measure has a somewhat different universe coverage, estimation 
procedure, and publication product.

   Differences in coverage and estimation methods can result in somewhat 
different measures of over-the-quarter employment change.  It is important to 
understand program differences and the intended uses of the program products.  
(See table below.)  Additional information on each program can be obtained 
from the program Web sites shown in the table.

				                                  
Summary of Major Differences between QCEW, BED, and CES Employment Measures
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           |         QCEW        |         BED          |         CES
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Source     |--Count of UI admini-|--Count of longitudi- |--Sample survey: 
           |  strative records   |  nally-linked UI ad- |  400,000 establish-
           |  submitted by 9.2   |  ministrative records|  ments
           |  million employers  |  submitted by 7.0    |
           |                     |  million private sec-|
           |                     |  tor employers       |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Coverage   |--UI and UCFE cover- |--UI Coverage, exclud-|Nonfarm wage and sal-
           |  age:  all employers|  ing government, pri-|  ary jobs:
           |  subject to state   |  vate households, and|--UI Coverage, exclud-
           |  and federal UI Laws|  establishments with |  ing agriculture, pri-
           |                     |  zero employment     |  vate households, and
           |                     |                      |  self-employed workers
           |                     |                      |--Other employment, in-
           |                     |                      |  cluding railroads, 
           |                     |                      |  religious organiza-
           |                     |                      |  tions, and other non-
           |                     |                      |  UI-covered jobs
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Publication|--Quarterly          |--Quarterly           |--Monthly 
frequency  |  -7 months after the|  -8 months after the |  -Usually first Friday
           |   end of each quar- |   end of each quarter|   of following month
           |   ter               |                      |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Use of UI  |--Directly summarizes|--Links each new UI   |--Uses UI file as a sam-
file       |  and publishes each |  quarter to longitu- |  pling frame and annu-
           |  new quarter of UI  |  dinal database and  |  ally realigns (bench-
           |  data               |  directly summarizes |  marks) sample esti-    
           |                     |  gross job gains and |  mates to first quar-  
           |                     |  losses              |  ter UI levels
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Principal  |--Provides a quarter-|--Provides quarterly  |--Provides current month-
products   |  ly and annual uni- |  employer dynamics   |  ly estimates of employ-
           |  verse count of es- |  data on establish-  |  ment, hours, and earn-
           |  tablishments, em-  |  ment openings, clos-|  ings at the MSA, state,
           |  ployment, and wages|  ings, expansions,   |  and national level by
           |  at the county, MSA,|  and contractions at |  industry
           |  state, and national|  the national level  |
           |  levels by detailed |  by NAICS super-     |
           |  industry           |  sectors and by size |
           |                     |  of firm, and at the |   
           |                     |  state private-sector|
           |                     |  total level         | 
           |                     |--Future expansions   |
           |                     |  will include data   |
           |                     |  with greater in-    |
           |                     |  dustry detail and   |
           |                     |  data at the county  |
           |                     |  and MSA level       |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Principal  |--Major uses include:|--Major uses include: |--Major uses include:
uses       |  -Detailed locality |  -Business cycle     |  -Principal national
           |   data              |   analysis           |   economic indicator
           |  -Periodic universe |  -Analysis of employ-|  -Official time series 
           |   counts for bench- |   er dynamics under- |   for employment change
           |   marking sample    |   lying economic ex- |   measures
           |   survey estimates  |   pansions and con-  |  -Input into other ma-
           |  -Sample frame for  |   tractions          |   jor economic indi-
           |   BLS establishment |  -Analysis of employ-|   cators
           |   surveys           |   ment expansion and |
           |                     |   contraction by size|   
           |                     |   of firm            |
           |                     |                      |
-----------|---------------------|----------------------|------------------------
Program    |--www.bls.gov/cew/   |--www.bls.gov/bdm/    |--www.bls.gov/ces/
Web sites  |                     |                      |
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               
                           
Coverage                           

   Employment and wage data for workers covered by state UI and Unemployment 
Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) laws are compiled from quarterly 
contribution reports submitted to the SWAs by employers.  In addition to the 
quarterly contribution reports, employers who operate multiple establishments 
within a state complete a questionnaire, called the "Multiple Worksite Report,"
which provides detailed information on the location of their establishments. 
These reports are based on place of employment rather than place of residence. 
UI and UCFE coverage is broad and basically comparable from state to state.
   
   Major exclusions from UI coverage are self-employed workers, religious or-
ganizations, most agricultural workers on small farms, all members of the 
Armed Forces, elected officials in most states, most employees of railroads, 
some domestic workers, most student workers at schools, and employees of cer-
tain small nonprofit organizations.
   
   Gross job gains and gross job losses in this release are derived from lon-
gitudinal histories of 7.0 million private sector employer reports out 
of 9.2 million total reports of employment and wages submitted by states to 
BLS in the fourth quarter of 2008.  Gross job gains and gross job losses data 
in this release do not report estimates for government employees or private 
households (NAICS 814110) and do not include establishments with zero employ-
ment in both previous and current quarters.  Data from Puerto Rico and the 
Virgin Islands also are excluded from the national data.  As an illustration, 
the table below shows, in millions of establishments, the number of establish-
ments excluded from the gross job gains and gross job losses data in the fourth 
quarter of 2008:


             Number of active establishments included in 
              Business Employment Dynamics data at the
                          national level

                                                                   Millions
                                                                       
Total establishments QCEW program....................................9.2

    Excluded:  Public sector.........................................0.3 
               Private households....................................0.6
               Zero employment.......................................1.2      
               Establishments in Puerto Rico 
                 and the Virgin Islands..............................0.1 
         
Total establishments included in Business
Employment Dynamics data.............................................7.0

Unit of analysis
   
   Establishments are used in the tabulation of the BED statistics by in-
dustry and firms are used in the tabulation of the BED size class sta-
tistics.  An establishment is defined as an economic unit that produces
goods or services, usually at a single physical location, and engages in
one or predominantly one activity.  A firm is a legal business, either
corporate or otherwise, and may consist of several establishments.  Firm-
level data are compiled based on an aggregation of establishments under
common ownership by a corporate parent using employer tax identification
numbers.  The firm-level aggregation, which is consistent with the role of
corporations as the economic decision makers, is used for the measurement
of the BED data elements by size class.
   
   Because of the difference in the unit of analysis, total gross job gains
and gross job losses by size class are lower than total gross job gains and
gross job losses by industry, as some establishment gains and losses within
a firm are offset during the aggregation process.  However, the total net
changes in employment are the same for not seasonally adjusted data and are
similar for seasonally adjusted data.
                                 
Concepts and methodology

   The Business Employment Dynamics data measure the net change in employ-
ment at the establishment or firm level.  These changes come about in one 
of four ways.  A net increase in employment can come from either opening 
units or expanding units.  A net decrease in employment can come from either 
closing units or contracting units.  Gross job gains include the sum of all
jobs added at either opening or expanding units.  Gross job losses include
the sum of all jobs lost in either closing or contracting units.  The net
change in employment is the difference between gross job gains and gross
job losses.
   
   The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:                          

   Openings.  These are either units 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 em-
ployment in the previous quarter.
                                     
   Expansions.  These are units 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 units with positive third month employment in the pre-
vious quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current
quarter.
   
   Contractions.  These are units with positive employment in the third month
in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment
over this period.

   Births.  These are units with positive third month employment for the 
first time in the current quarter with no links to the prior quarter, or 
units with positive third month employment in the current quarter and zero
employment in the third month of the previous four quarters. Births are a
subset of openings not including re-openings of seasonal businesses.

   Deaths.  These are units with no employment or zero employment reported in 
the third month of four consecutive quarters following the last quarter with 
positive employment. Deaths are a subset of closings not including temporary 
shutdowns of seasonal businesses.  A unit that closes during the quarter may 
be a death, but we wait three quarters to determine whether it is a permanent
closing or a temporary shutdown. Therefore, there is always a lag of three 
quarters for the publication of death statistics.

   All establishment-level employment changes are measured from the third 
month of each quarter.  Not all establishments and firms change their em-
ployment levels.  Units with no change in employment count towards estimates
of total employment, but not for levels of gross employment job gains and 
gross job losses.

   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 quar-
ters.  This provides a symmetric growth rate.  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.

Establishment Births and Deaths

   For the purpose of BED statistics, births are defined as establishments
that appear in the longitudinal database for the first time with positive
employment in the third month of a quarter, or showed four consecutive
quarters of zero employment in the third month followed by a quarter in
which it shows positive employment in the third month.  Similarly, deaths
are defined as establishments that either drop out of the longitudinal
database or an estblishment that had positive employment in the third month
of a given quarter followed by four consecutive quarters of showing zero
employment in the third month.  Although the data for establishment births
and deaths are tabulated independently from the data for openings and
closings, the concepts are not mutually exclusive.  An establishment that
is defined as a birth in a given quarter is necessarily an opening as well,
and an establishment defined as a death in a quarter must also be a closing.
Since openings include seasonal, and other, re-openings and closings include
temporary shutdowns, the not seasonally adjusted values for births and
deaths must be less than those openings and closings.  However, because some
BED series do not have many re-openings or temporary shutdowns, as well as
the fact that births and deaths are independently seasonally adjusted from
openings and closings, there may be instances in which the seasonally
adjusted value of the former is greater than the latter.

Linkage methodology

   Prior to the measurement of gross job gains and gross job losses, QCEW
records are linked across two quarters.  The linkage process matches esta-
blishments' unique SWA identification numbers (SWA-ID).  Between 95 to 97
percent of establishments identified as continuous from quarter to quarter
are matched by SWA-ID.  The rest are linked in one of three ways.  The first
method uses predecessor and successor information, identified by the states,
which relates records with different SWA-IDs across quarters.  Predecessor
and successor relations can come about for a variety of reasons, including
a change in ownership, a firm restructuring, or a UI account restructuring.
If a match cannot be attained in this manner, a probability-based match is
used.  This match attempts to identify two establishments with different SWA-
IDs as continuous.  The match is based upon comparisons such as the same
name, address, and phone number.  Third, an analyst examines unmatched re-
cords individually and makes a possible match.

   In order to ensure the highest possible quality of data, SWAs verify with 
employers and update, if necessary, the industry, location, and ownership 
classification of all establishments on a 3-year cycle.  Changes in establish-
ment classification codes resulting from the verification process are intro-
duced with the data reported for the first quarter of the year.  Changes re-
sulting from improved employer reporting also are introduced in the first 
quarter.   
                              
Sizing methodology
   
   The method of dynamic sizing is used in calculations for the BED size-
class data series.  Dynamic sizing allocates each firm's employment gain or
loss during a quarter to each respective size class in which the change
occurred.  For example, if a firm grew from 2 employees in quarter 1 to 38
employees in quarter 2, then, of the 36-employee increase, 2 would be al-
located to the first size class, 5 to the size class 5 to 9, 10 to size
class 10 to 19, and 19 to size class 20 to 49.
   
   Dynamic sizing provides symmetrical firm-size estimates and eliminates
any systematic effects which may be caused by the transitory and reverting
changes in firms' sizes over time.  Additionally, it allocates each job
gain or loss to the actual size class where it occurred.

Annual Data

   The annual gross job gains and gross job losses measure the net change
in employment at the establishment level from the third month of a quarter
in the previous year to the third month of the same quarter in the current
year.  The BLS publishes annual BED data based on March-to-March changes
once a year with the release of the first quarter BED data.  The annual
data based on over-the-year changes for other quarters of the year are
available upon request.  The definitions and methodology in measuring
annual gross job gains and gross job losses are similar to the quarterly
measures.  The linkage method considers all predecessor and successor
relations that may come about due to changes in ownership and corporate
restructuring over the entire year.  At the establishment level, some of
the quarterly job gains and job losses are offset during the estimation
over the year.  Therefore, the sum of four quarters of gross job gains
and gross job losses are not equal to annual gross job gains and gross
job losses.  The net change in employment over the year, however, is
equal to the sum of four quarterly net changes on a not seasonally
adjusted basis.

Seasonal adjustment

   Over the course of a year, the levels of employment and the associated
job flows undergo sharp fluctuations due to such seasonal events as changes
in the weather, reduced or expanded production, harvests, major holidays,
and the opening and closing of schools.  The effect of such seasonal vari-
ation can be very large.

   Because these seasonal events follow a more or less regular pattern each 
year, their influence can be eliminated by adjusting these statistics from 
quarter to quarter.  These adjustments make nonseasonal developments, such as 
declines in economic activity, easier to recognize.  For example, the large 
number of youths taking summer jobs is likely to obscure other changes that 
have taken place in June relative to March, making it difficult to determine 
if the level of economic activity has risen or declined.  However, because
the effect of students finishing school in previous years is known, the 
statistics for the current year can be adjusted to allow for a comparable 
change.  The adjusted figures provide a more useful tool with which to ana-
lyze changes in economic activity.

   The employment data series for opening, expanding, closing, and contract-
ing units are independently seasonally adjusted; net changes are calculated
based on the difference between gross job gains and gross job losses.  Simi-
larly, for industry data, the establishment counts data series for opening,
expanding, closing, and contracting establishments are independently adjusted,
and the net changes are calculated based on the difference between the number
of opening and closing establishments.  Additionally, establishment and em-
ployment levels are independently seasonally adjusted to calculate the sea-
sonally adjusted rates.  Concurrent seasonal adjustment is run using X-12
ARIMA.  Seasonally adjusted data series for the total private sector are cal-
culated by summing the seasonally adjusted data for all sectors, including
the unclassified sector, which is not published separately.
   
   The employment data series for opening, expanding, closing, and contracting 
units for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia are seasonally
adjusted at the total private level only.  The sum of the state series for
opening, expanding, closing, and contracting units will not necessarily be
equal to the national total private series because of the independent seasonal
adjustment of these series.
   
   The net over-the-quarter change derived by summing the BED component series 
will differ from the net employment change estimated from the seasonally ad-
justed total private employment series from the CES program.  The intended use 
of BED statistics is to show the dynamic labor market changes that underlie 
the net employment change statistic.  As such, data users interested particu-
larly in the net employment change and not in the gross job flows underlying 
this change should refer to CES data for over-the-quarter net employment
changes.
   
Reliability of the data
   
   Since the data series on Business Employment Dynamics are based on admini-
strative rather than sample data, there are no issues related to sampling 
error.  Nonsampling error, however, still exists.  Nonsampling errors can oc-
cur for many reasons, such as the employer submitting corrected employment 
data after the end of the quarter or typographical errors made by businesses 
when providing information.  Such errors, however, are likely to be distri-
buted randomly throughout the dataset.
   
   Changes in administrative data sometimes create complications for the 
linkage process.  This can result in overstating openings and closings while 
understating expansions and contractions.  The BLS continues to refine methods 
for improving the linkage process to alleviate the effects of these compli-
cations.
   
   The BED data series are subject to periodic minor changes based on correc-
tions in QCEW records, updates on predecessors and successors information, and
seasonal adjustment revisions.
                      
Additional statistics and other information
   
   Several other programs within BLS produce closely related information.  
The QCEW program, also known as the ES-202 program, provides both quarterly 
and annual estimates of employment by state, county, and detailed industry. 
News releases on quarterly county employment and wages are available upon 
request from the Division of Administrative Statistics and Labor Turnover, 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC 20212; 
telephone 202-691-6567; (http://www.bls.gov/cew/); (e-mail: QCEWInfo@bls.gov).
                                     
   The CES program produces monthly estimates of employment, its net change, 
and earnings by detailed industry.  These estimates are part of the Employ-
ment Situation report put out monthly by BLS.
                                     
   The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) program provides month-
ly measures of job openings, as well as employee hires and separations.

   Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired in-
dividuals upon request.  Voice phone:  202-691-5200; TDD message referral 
number: 1-800-877-8339.






Table 1.  Private sector gross job gains and job losses, seasonally adjusted

Total private

(In thousands)

                                                  Gross job gains                       Gross job losses
Year  3 months ended  Net change(1) Total     Expanding      Opening      Total     Contracting      Closing
                                           establishments establishments           establishments establishments

1992  September            599      7,329       5,688         1,641       6,730       5,308           1,422
      December             123      6,986       5,452         1,534       6,863       5,484           1,379

1993  March                288      7,117       5,404         1,713       6,829       5,364           1,465
      June                 734      7,275       5,782         1,493       6,541       5,155           1,386
      September            965      7,539       5,926         1,613       6,574       5,265           1,309
      December             603      7,375       5,822         1,553       6,772       5,411           1,361

1994  March                559      7,381       5,800         1,581       6,822       5,401           1,421
      June                 905      7,709       6,041         1,668       6,804       5,315           1,489
      September          1,288      8,002       6,277         1,725       6,714       5,426           1,288
      December             460      7,535       5,978         1,557       7,075       5,642           1,433

1995  March                758      7,787       6,124         1,663       7,029       5,652           1,377
      June                 358      7,666       6,006         1,660       7,308       5,840           1,468
      September            845      7,983       6,341         1,642       7,138       5,645           1,493
      December             378      7,830       6,140         1,690       7,452       5,929           1,523

1996  March                457      7,933       6,179         1,754       7,476       5,967           1,509
      June                 631      8,051       6,282         1,769       7,420       5,903           1,517
      September            704      8,177       6,373         1,804       7,473       5,942           1,531
      December             816      8,206       6,396         1,810       7,390       5,875           1,515

1997  March                784      8,214       6,407         1,807       7,430       5,886           1,544
      June                 584      8,055       6,330         1,725       7,471       5,931           1,540
      September            901      8,515       6,718         1,797       7,614       5,927           1,687
      December             708      8,617       6,697         1,920       7,909       6,024           1,885

1998  March                711      8,648       6,599         2,049       7,937       6,077           1,860
      June                 610      8,629       6,552         2,077       8,019       6,224           1,795
      September            742      8,508       6,607         1,901       7,766       6,093           1,673
      December             768      8,475       6,737         1,738       7,707       6,025           1,682

1999  March                353      8,585       6,626         1,959       8,232       6,395           1,837
      June                 644      8,539       6,661         1,878       7,895       6,210           1,685
      September            588      8,571       6,734         1,837       7,983       6,250           1,733
      December           1,005      8,749       6,956         1,793       7,744       6,076           1,668

2000  March                789      8,792       6,924         1,868       8,003       6,341           1,662
      June                 492      8,499       6,814         1,685       8,007       6,387           1,620
      September            296      8,506       6,728         1,778       8,210       6,483           1,727
      December             295      8,400       6,702         1,698       8,105       6,433           1,672

2001  March               -156      8,436       6,694         1,742       8,592       6,717           1,875
      June                -792      8,009       6,319         1,690       8,801       7,050           1,751
      September         -1,184      7,608       5,917         1,691       8,792       6,991           1,801
      December            -960      7,591       5,932         1,659       8,551       6,858           1,693

2002  March                -39      8,049       6,259         1,790       8,088       6,424           1,664
      June                 -38      7,890       6,164         1,726       7,928       6,290           1,638
      September           -171      7,608       6,015         1,593       7,779       6,248           1,531
      December            -198      7,522       5,960         1,562       7,720       6,171           1,549

2003  March               -412      7,439       5,917         1,522       7,851       6,311           1,540
      June                -104      7,401       5,928         1,473       7,505       6,040           1,465
      September            204      7,383       5,918         1,465       7,179       5,818           1,361
      December             309      7,549       6,016         1,533       7,240       5,802           1,438

2004  March                450      7,683       6,189         1,494       7,233       5,799           1,434
      June                 631      7,760       6,234         1,526       7,129       5,648           1,481
      September            215      7,630       6,057         1,573       7,415       5,877           1,538
      December             781      7,872       6,256         1,616       7,091       5,660           1,431

2005  March                363      7,595       6,123         1,472       7,232       5,806           1,426
      June                 585      7,783       6,231         1,552       7,198       5,785           1,413
      September            680      7,962       6,387         1,575       7,282       5,834           1,448
      December             516      7,833       6,263         1,570       7,317       5,945           1,372

2006  March                787      7,697       6,278         1,419       6,910       5,635           1,275
      June                 410      7,795       6,274         1,521       7,385       6,009           1,376
      September             36      7,488       6,052         1,436       7,452       6,099           1,353
      December             492      7,801       6,262         1,539       7,309       5,953           1,356

2007  March                470      7,627       6,228         1,399       7,157       5,872           1,285
      June                 192      7,665       6,250         1,415       7,473       6,066           1,407
      September           -241      7,323       5,849         1,474       7,564       6,209           1,355
      December             310      7,676       6,220         1,456       7,366       6,010           1,356

2008  March               -270      7,130       5,731         1,399       7,400       6,047           1,353
      June                -493      7,258       5,858         1,400       7,751       6,277           1,474
      September           -932      6,822       5,504         1,318       7,754       6,383           1,371
      December          -1,755      6,712       5,367         1,345       8,467       6,977           1,490


(1) Net 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 employment(1), seasonally adjusted

Total private

(Percent)

                                                  Gross job gains                       Gross job losses
Year  3 months ended  Net change(2) Total     Expanding      Opening      Total     Contracting      Closing
                                           establishments establishments           establishments establishments

1992  September             .7       8.2         6.4           1.8         7.5          5.9            1.6
      December              .2       7.8         6.1           1.7         7.6          6.1            1.5

1993  March                 .3       7.9         6.0           1.9         7.6          6.0            1.6
      June                  .8       8.0         6.4           1.6         7.2          5.7            1.5
      September            1.1       8.3         6.5           1.8         7.2          5.8            1.4
      December              .6       8.0         6.3           1.7         7.4          5.9            1.5

1994  March                 .7       8.0         6.3           1.7         7.3          5.8            1.5
      June                 1.0       8.3         6.5           1.8         7.3          5.7            1.6
      September            1.3       8.4         6.6           1.8         7.1          5.7            1.4
      December              .5       7.9         6.3           1.6         7.4          5.9            1.5

1995  March                 .8       8.1         6.4           1.7         7.3          5.9            1.4
      June                  .3       7.9         6.2           1.7         7.6          6.1            1.5
      September             .9       8.2         6.5           1.7         7.3          5.8            1.5
      December              .3       8.0         6.3           1.7         7.7          6.1            1.6

1996  March                 .5       8.1         6.3           1.8         7.6          6.1            1.5
      June                  .7       8.2         6.4           1.8         7.5          6.0            1.5
      September             .7       8.2         6.4           1.8         7.5          6.0            1.5
      December              .8       8.2         6.4           1.8         7.4          5.9            1.5

1997  March                 .9       8.2         6.4           1.8         7.3          5.8            1.5
      June                  .6       7.9         6.2           1.7         7.3          5.8            1.5
      September            1.0       8.4         6.6           1.8         7.4          5.8            1.6
      December              .8       8.4         6.5           1.9         7.6          5.8            1.8

1998  March                 .7       8.4         6.4           2.0         7.7          5.9            1.8
      June                  .6       8.3         6.3           2.0         7.7          6.0            1.7
      September             .7       8.1         6.3           1.8         7.4          5.8            1.6
      December              .7       8.0         6.4           1.6         7.3          5.7            1.6

1999  March                 .3       8.0         6.2           1.8         7.7          6.0            1.7
      June                  .6       8.0         6.2           1.8         7.4          5.8            1.6
      September             .6       8.0         6.3           1.7         7.4          5.8            1.6
      December             1.0       8.1         6.4           1.7         7.1          5.6            1.5

2000  March                 .7       8.0         6.3           1.7         7.3          5.8            1.5
      June                  .4       7.7         6.2           1.5         7.3          5.8            1.5
      September             .2       7.7         6.1           1.6         7.5          5.9            1.6
      December              .3       7.6         6.1           1.5         7.3          5.8            1.5

2001  March                -.1       7.7         6.1           1.6         7.8          6.1            1.7
      June                 -.8       7.2         5.7           1.5         8.0          6.4            1.6
      September           -1.2       6.9         5.4           1.5         8.1          6.4            1.7
      December             -.9       7.0         5.5           1.5         7.9          6.3            1.6

2002  March                 .0       7.5         5.8           1.7         7.5          6.0            1.5
      June                  .0       7.3         5.7           1.6         7.3          5.8            1.5
      September            -.1       7.1         5.6           1.5         7.2          5.8            1.4
      December              .0       7.1         5.6           1.5         7.1          5.7            1.4

2003  March                -.4       6.9         5.5           1.4         7.3          5.9            1.4
      June                 -.1       7.0         5.6           1.4         7.1          5.7            1.4
      September             .2       6.9         5.5           1.4         6.7          5.4            1.3
      December              .3       7.0         5.6           1.4         6.7          5.4            1.3

2004  March                 .5       7.2         5.8           1.4         6.7          5.4            1.3
      June                  .6       7.2         5.8           1.4         6.6          5.2            1.4
      September             .3       7.1         5.6           1.5         6.8          5.4            1.4
      December              .7       7.2         5.7           1.5         6.5          5.2            1.3

2005  March                 .3       6.9         5.6           1.3         6.6          5.3            1.3
      June                  .5       7.1         5.7           1.4         6.6          5.3            1.3
      September             .6       7.2         5.8           1.4         6.6          5.3            1.3
      December              .4       7.0         5.6           1.4         6.6          5.4            1.2

2006  March                 .8       6.9         5.6           1.3         6.1          5.0            1.1
      June                  .5       7.0         5.6           1.4         6.5          5.3            1.2
      September             .1       6.7         5.4           1.3         6.6          5.4            1.2
      December              .4       6.9         5.5           1.4         6.5          5.3            1.2

2007  March                 .4       6.7         5.5           1.2         6.3          5.2            1.1
      June                  .2       6.7         5.5           1.2         6.5          5.3            1.2
      September            -.3       6.4         5.1           1.3         6.7          5.5            1.2
      December              .3       6.8         5.5           1.3         6.5          5.3            1.2

2008  March                -.3       6.2         5.0           1.2         6.5          5.3            1.2
      June                 -.4       6.4         5.2           1.2         6.8          5.5            1.3
      September            -.8       6.1         4.9           1.2         6.9          5.7            1.2
      December            -1.6       6.0         4.8           1.2         7.6          6.3            1.3


(1) The rates measure gross job gains and gross job losses as a percentage
    of the previous and current quarter employment levels.

(2) Net change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses.

Table 3: Private sector gross job gains and losses by industry, seasonally adjusted

                                      Gross job gains and job losses      Gross job gains and job losses
                                           (in thousands)                   as a percent of employment

    Category                                 3 months ended                      3 months ended

                                   Dec.    March   June    Sept.   Dec.   Dec.   March  June   Sept.  Dec.  
                                   2007    2008    2008    2008    2008   2007   2008   2008   2008   2008
Total private(1)

Gross job gains                   7,676   7,130   7,258   6,822   6,712    6.8    6.2    6.4    6.1    6.0
 At expanding establishments      6,220   5,731   5,858   5,504   5,367    5.5    5.0    5.2    4.9    4.8
 At opening establishments        1,456   1,399   1,400   1,318   1,345    1.3    1.2    1.2    1.2    1.2
Gross job losses                  7,366   7,400   7,751   7,754   8,467    6.5    6.5    6.8    6.9    7.6
 At contracting establishments    6,010   6,047   6,277   6,383   6,977    5.3    5.3    5.5    5.7    6.3
 At closing establishments        1,356   1,353   1,474   1,371   1,490    1.2    1.2    1.3    1.2    1.3
Net employment change               310    -270    -493    -932  -1,755     .3    -.3    -.4    -.8   -1.6

Goods-producing

Gross job gains                   1,573   1,493   1,494   1,397   1,302    6.8    6.5    6.6    6.2    6.0
 At expanding establishments      1,337   1,258   1,268   1,185   1,087    5.8    5.5    5.6    5.3    5.0
 At opening establishments          236     235     226     212     215    1.0    1.0    1.0     .9    1.0
Gross job losses                  1,701   1,758   1,778   1,767   2,063    7.4    7.6    7.8    7.9    9.4
 At contracting establishments    1,424   1,481   1,486   1,493   1,751    6.2    6.4    6.5    6.7    8.0
 At closing establishments          277     277     292     274     312    1.2    1.2    1.3    1.2    1.4
Net employment change              -128    -265    -284    -370    -761    -.6   -1.1   -1.2   -1.7   -3.4

Natural resources and mining

Gross job gains                     292     274     280     274     285   15.8   14.5   14.9   14.6   15.0
 At expanding establishments        250     234     242     239     247   13.5   12.4   12.9   12.7   13.0
 At opening establishments           42      40      38      35      38    2.3    2.1    2.0    1.9    2.0
Gross job losses                    261     293     268     255     286   14.1   15.5   14.3   13.6   15.0
 At contracting establishments      224     251     228     221     251   12.1   13.3   12.2   11.8   13.2
 At closing establishments           37      42      40      34      35    2.0    2.2    2.1    1.8    1.8
Net employment change                31     -19      12      19      -1    1.7   -1.0     .6    1.0     .0

Construction

Gross job gains                     784     763     737     698     639   10.5   10.2   10.1    9.8    9.4
 At expanding establishments        634     614     593     560     505    8.5    8.2    8.1    7.9    7.4
 At opening establishments          150     149     144     138     134    2.0    2.0    2.0    1.9    2.0
Gross job losses                    875     869     922     876     976   11.7   11.7   12.6   12.4   14.2
 At contracting establishments      702     698     738     700     774    9.4    9.4   10.1    9.9   11.3
 At closing establishments          173     171     184     176     202    2.3    2.3    2.5    2.5    2.9
Net employment change               -91    -106    -185    -178    -337   -1.2   -1.5   -2.5   -2.6   -4.8

Manufacturing

Gross job gains                     497     456     477     425     378    3.6    3.3    3.5    3.2    2.9
 At expanding establishments        453     410     433     386     335    3.3    3.0    3.2    2.9    2.6
 At opening establishments           44      46      44      39      43     .3     .3     .3     .3     .3
Gross job losses                    565     596     588     636     801    4.1    4.4    4.3    4.8    6.1
 At contracting establishments      498     532     520     572     726    3.6    3.9    3.8    4.3    5.5
 At closing establishments           67      64      68      64      75     .5     .5     .5     .5     .6
Net employment change               -68    -140    -111    -211    -423    -.5   -1.1    -.8   -1.6   -3.2

Service-providing(1)

Gross job gains                   6,103   5,637   5,764   5,425   5,410    6.7    6.2    6.3    6.0    6.1
 At expanding establishments      4,883   4,473   4,590   4,319   4,280    5.4    4.9    5.0    4.8    4.8
 At opening establishments        1,220   1,164   1,174   1,106   1,130    1.3    1.3    1.3    1.2    1.3
Gross job losses                  5,665   5,642   5,973   5,987   6,404    6.3    6.2    6.6    6.6    7.1
 At contracting establishments    4,586   4,566   4,791   4,890   5,226    5.1    5.0    5.3    5.4    5.8
 At closing establishments        1,079   1,076   1,182   1,097   1,178    1.2    1.2    1.3    1.2    1.3
Net employment change               438      -5    -209    -562    -994     .4     .0    -.3    -.6   -1.0

Wholesale trade

Gross job gains                     321     294     295     272     259    5.4    4.9    4.9    4.5    4.4
 At expanding establishments        263     238     239     223     206    4.4    4.0    4.0    3.7    3.5
 At opening establishments           58      56      56      49      53    1.0     .9     .9     .8     .9
Gross job losses                    301     306     314     313     364    5.0    5.1    5.3    5.2    6.2
 At contracting establishments      232     239     243     247     290    3.9    4.0    4.1    4.1    4.9
 At closing establishments           69      67      71      66      74    1.1    1.1    1.2    1.1    1.3
Net employment change                20     -12     -19     -41    -105     .4    -.2    -.4    -.7   -1.8

Retail trade

Gross job gains                   1,022     954     939     892     835    6.6    6.2    6.0    5.8    5.6
 At expanding establishments        870     804     785     736     704    5.6    5.2    5.0    4.8    4.7
 At opening establishments          152     150     154     156     131    1.0    1.0    1.0    1.0     .9
Gross job losses                  1,011     979   1,080   1,062   1,181    6.5    6.3    6.9    6.9    7.8
 At contracting establishments      871     846     935     923   1,025    5.6    5.4    6.0    6.0    6.8
 At closing establishments          140     133     145     139     156     .9     .9     .9     .9    1.0
Net employment change                11     -25    -141    -170    -346     .1    -.1    -.9   -1.1   -2.2

Transportation and warehousing

Gross job gains                     254     208     225     208     238    5.8    4.8    5.2    4.8    5.6
 At expanding establishments        219     177     193     178     206    5.0    4.1    4.5    4.1    4.8
 At opening establishments           35      31      32      30      32     .8     .7     .7     .7     .8
Gross job losses                    229     250     253     250     283    5.3    5.8    5.9    5.9    6.6
 At contracting establishments      189     216     210     209     240    4.4    5.0    4.9    4.9    5.6
 At closing establishments           40      34      43      41      43     .9     .8    1.0    1.0    1.0
Net employment change                25     -42     -28     -42     -45     .5   -1.0    -.7   -1.1   -1.0

Utilities

Gross job gains                      15      13      16      14      13    2.8    2.4    2.9    2.5    2.3
 At expanding establishments         13      11      14      13      12    2.4    2.0    2.5    2.3    2.1
 At opening establishments            2       2       2       1       1     .4     .4     .4     .2     .2
Gross job losses                     11      10      12      13      12    2.0    1.8    2.2    2.3    2.2
 At contracting establishments       10       9      10      12      11    1.8    1.6    1.8    2.1    2.0
 At closing establishments            1       1       2       1       1     .2     .2     .4     .2     .2
Net employment change                 4       3       4       1       1     .8     .6     .7     .2     .1

Information

Gross job gains                     145     154     162     135     137    4.7    5.1    5.4    4.5    4.6
 At expanding establishments        117     129     139     111     109    3.8    4.3    4.6    3.7    3.7
 At opening establishments           28      25      23      24      28     .9     .8     .8     .8     .9
Gross job losses                    155     153     161     168     191    5.1    5.1    5.4    5.6    6.4
 At contracting establishments      126     123     126     142     155    4.1    4.1    4.2    4.7    5.2
 At closing establishments           29      30      35      26      36    1.0    1.0    1.2     .9    1.2
Net employment change               -10       1       1     -33     -54    -.4     .0     .0   -1.1   -1.8

Financial activities

Gross job gains                     432     412     394     376     388    5.3    5.1    4.9    4.7    4.9
 At expanding establishments        332     324     310     293     293    4.1    4.0    3.9    3.7    3.7
 At opening establishments          100      88      84      83      95    1.2    1.1    1.0    1.0    1.2
Gross job losses                    486     436     455     460     497    6.0    5.4    5.7    5.7    6.3
 At contracting establishments      368     323     345     353     377    4.5    4.0    4.3    4.4    4.8
 At closing establishments          118     113     110     107     120    1.5    1.4    1.4    1.3    1.5
Net employment change               -54     -24     -61     -84    -109    -.7    -.3    -.8   -1.0   -1.4

Professional and business services

Gross job gains                   1,440   1,239   1,345   1,231   1,234    8.0    6.8    7.5    6.9    7.1
 At expanding establishments      1,158     998   1,073     994     977    6.4    5.5    6.0    5.6    5.6
 At opening establishments          282     241     272     237     257    1.6    1.3    1.5    1.3    1.5
Gross job losses                  1,337   1,358   1,433   1,411   1,619    7.5    7.6    8.1    7.9    9.2
 At contracting establishments    1,072   1,094   1,100   1,138   1,317    6.0    6.1    6.2    6.4    7.5
 At closing establishments          265     264     333     273     302    1.5    1.5    1.9    1.5    1.7
Net employment change               103    -119     -88    -180    -385     .5    -.8    -.6   -1.0   -2.1

Education and health services

Gross job gains                     814     785     788     799     841    4.6    4.4    4.4    4.5    4.6
 At expanding establishments        695     661     673     681     716    3.9    3.7    3.8    3.8    3.9
 At opening establishments          119     124     115     118     125     .7     .7     .6     .7     .7
Gross job losses                    666     667     715     706     665    3.7    3.8    4.0    4.0    3.7
 At contracting establishments      552     551     587     588     547    3.1    3.1    3.3    3.3    3.0
 At closing establishments          114     116     128     118     118     .6     .7     .7     .7     .7
Net employment change               148     118      73      93     176     .9     .6     .4     .5     .9

Leisure and hospitality

Gross job gains                   1,247   1,158   1,183   1,114   1,111    9.3    8.6    8.7    8.3    8.4
 At expanding establishments        961     879     908     854     835    7.2    6.5    6.7    6.4    6.3
 At opening establishments          286     279     275     260     276    2.1    2.1    2.0    1.9    2.1
Gross job losses                  1,148   1,154   1,218   1,259   1,235    8.5    8.6    9.1    9.4    9.3
 At contracting establishments      931     930     993   1,023   1,000    6.9    6.9    7.4    7.6    7.5
 At closing establishments          217     224     225     236     235    1.6    1.7    1.7    1.8    1.8
Net employment change                99       4     -35    -145    -124     .8     .0    -.4   -1.1    -.9

Other services

Gross job gains                     296     290     300     280     265    7.6    7.5    7.7    7.1    6.8
 At expanding establishments        238     233     238     221     209    6.1    6.0    6.1    5.6    5.4
 At opening establishments           58      57      62      59      56    1.5    1.5    1.6    1.5    1.4
Gross job losses                    287     289     293     307     322    7.3    7.4    7.5    7.8    8.3
 At contracting establishments      224     224     228     243     254    5.7    5.7    5.8    6.2    6.5
 At closing establishments           63      65      65      64      68    1.6    1.7    1.7    1.6    1.8
Net employment change                 9       1       7     -27     -57     .3     .1     .2    -.7   -1.5

(1) Includes unclassified sector, not shown separately

Table 4.  Private sector percentage share (1) of gross job gains and losses, seasonally adjusted

(Percent)

                                                         3 months ended

                              Dec.  2007     March 2008      June  2008      Sept. 2008      Dec.  2008


Firm size 1 - 4 employees

Gross job gains...............   15.6            16.2            15.4            16.1            16.8
   Expanding firms............    7.2             7.7             7.3             7.6             7.6
   Opening firms..............   61.6            58.9            59.0            60.6            62.2
Gross job losses..............   16.1            16.7            16.0            15.3            14.5
   Contracting firms..........    8.0             8.1             7.6             7.2             6.9
   Closing firms..............   59.6            61.0            61.1            60.6            61.1

Firm size 5 - 9 employees

Gross job gains...............   11.5            12.4            11.9            12.1            11.7
   Expanding firms............   10.7            11.6            11.0            11.3            11.0
   Opening firms..............   15.6            16.5            16.6            16.4            15.2
Gross job losses..............   12.3            12.4            11.9            11.4            10.8
   Contracting firms..........   11.6            11.7            11.1            10.5            10.0
   Closing firms..............   16.3            16.0            16.1            16.0            15.8

Firm size 10 - 19 employees

Gross job gains...............   11.7            12.6            12.2            12.2            11.8
   Expanding firms............   12.0            12.9            12.4            12.5            12.1
   Opening firms..............   10.1            11.1            11.2            10.6            10.1
Gross job losses..............   12.4            12.4            12.0            11.6            11.2
   Contracting firms..........   12.7            12.8            12.3            11.8            11.3
   Closing firms..............   10.8            10.3            10.4            10.4            10.4

Firm size 20 - 49 employees

Gross job gains...............   13.8            14.8            14.5            14.3            13.6
   Expanding firms............   14.9            16.1            15.6            15.5            14.8
   Opening firms..............    7.7             7.9             8.5             7.8             7.7
Gross job losses..............   14.5            14.3            14.0            13.9            13.6
   Contracting firms..........   15.7            15.7            15.2            15.0            14.5
   Closing firms..............    8.0             7.5             7.5             7.7             7.5

Firm size 50 - 99 employees

Gross job gains...............    8.8             9.1             9.1             9.1             8.6
   Expanding firms............    9.9            10.4            10.3            10.3             9.7
   Opening firms..............    2.9             2.7             2.8             2.9             2.9
Gross job losses..............    9.0             8.8             8.7             8.7             8.9
   Contracting firms..........   10.1             9.9             9.8             9.8             9.9
   Closing firms..............    3.0             2.9             2.6             2.7             2.6

Firm size 100 - 249 employees

Gross job gains...............    9.3             9.5             9.7             9.5             9.2
   Expanding firms............   10.8            11.1            11.3            11.0            10.7
   Opening firms..............    1.3             1.4             1.3             1.3             1.4
Gross job losses..............    9.1             8.9             9.0             9.4             9.6
   Contracting firms..........   10.5            10.4            10.4            10.8            10.9
   Closing firms..............    1.6             1.5             1.5             1.4             1.6

Firm size 250 - 499 employees

Gross job gains...............    5.6             5.6             5.7             5.8             5.5
   Expanding firms............    6.6             6.7             6.7             6.8             6.6
   Opening firms..............     .3              .4              .4              .3              .4
Gross job losses..............    5.4             5.3             5.5             5.6             5.9
   Contracting firms..........    6.3             6.3             6.4             6.5             6.7
   Closing firms..............     .5              .4              .4              .5              .6

Firm size 500 - 999 employees

Gross job gains...............    4.5             4.4             4.7             4.7             4.6
   Expanding firms............    5.3             5.3             5.5             5.5             5.5
   Opening firms..............     .2              .3              .2              .1              .1
Gross job losses..............    4.5             4.2             4.7             4.8             5.0
   Contracting firms..........    5.4             5.0             5.6             5.6             5.7
   Closing firms..............     .1              .2              .2              .3              .3

Firm size 1,000 or more employees

Gross job gains...............   19.2            15.2            16.8            16.3            18.2
   Expanding firms............   22.6            18.1            20.0            19.4            21.9
   Opening firms..............     .2              .7              .0              .0              .0
Gross job losses..............   16.7            16.9            18.2            19.4            20.7
   Contracting firms..........   19.8            20.1            21.6            22.8            24.1
   Closing firms..............     .0              .2              .2              .3              .1


(1) Share measures the percent of the category represented by each firm size class,
    and rates may not sum to 100.0 due to rounding.

Table 5.  Private sector gross job gains and losses by state, seasonally adjusted

                                         Gross job gains                                          Gross job losses
State                                    (3 months ended)                                         (3 months ended)
                        Dec.       March      June        Sept.     Dec.       Dec.         March      June        Sept.     Dec. 
                        2007       2008       2008        2008      2008       2007         2008       2008        2008      2008

United States1.....  7,676,000  7,130,000  7,258,000   6,822,000  6,712,000  7,366,000   7,400,000   7,751,000  7,754,000  8,467,000

Alabama.....           107,871     96,431     92,858      94,018     83,012    104,544     102,216     103,750    106,097    119,055
Alaska.....             24,875     24,026     27,326      23,290     25,991     26,209      21,293      23,152     25,878     26,540
Arizona.....           157,454    131,093    135,186     136,644    127,435    173,557     157,425     169,011    160,041    194,334
Arkansas.....           60,518     57,573     55,808      59,307     54,192     57,447      55,687      61,899     60,203     65,356
California.....        991,318    883,486    924,534     823,743    820,811    917,701     970,184     992,365    968,431  1,021,575
Colorado.....          147,704    144,403    142,518     136,670    128,334    142,396     139,549     143,312    148,638    161,291
Connecticut.....        84,896     75,774     81,956      74,507     71,865     82,717      75,913      79,403     86,469     91,586
Delaware.....           26,057     22,843     22,931      23,365     23,185     23,286      23,490      26,415     29,015     27,529
District of Columbia    26,858     27,668     29,566      27,587     24,920     26,855      24,968      26,545     26,265     30,282
Florida.....           503,784    462,893    456,432     437,465    439,888    557,019     508,941     559,962    548,854    582,767

Georgia.....           246,217    241,910    235,469     223,052    214,679    257,581     248,694     265,860    259,344    299,093
Hawaii.....             27,626     27,444     26,659      24,608     23,763     26,283      28,861      35,007     34,248     33,212
Idaho.....              46,957     43,825     40,999      41,167     38,841     42,462      47,387      48,725     46,527     49,607
Illinois.....          289,963    257,263    279,798     251,615    244,677    284,241     277,394     274,501    293,498    330,096
Indiana.....           147,408    128,823    148,823     142,552    129,136    152,272     151,313     156,699    160,977    191,303
Iowa.....               76,423     75,913     75,492      72,202     71,402     72,570      75,739      77,074     75,503     85,180
Kansas.....             72,455     85,756     73,245      66,962     74,781     72,803      76,089      76,424     75,491     78,274
Kentucky.....           98,760     89,802     92,385      82,716     85,906     91,580      94,167      94,347     98,439    106,165
Louisiana.....         114,566    105,843    106,666     101,375    119,844    102,061     101,310     110,348    117,794    105,818
Maine.....              39,812     35,386     39,310      35,228     38,175     36,533      38,311      38,951     42,054     41,665

Maryland.....          133,972    129,204    130,724     127,690    125,257    137,186     132,403     144,023    142,439    156,325
Massachusetts.....     163,903    156,011    170,476     151,905    146,760    169,769     152,572     161,310    172,780    188,813
Michigan.....          226,325    207,642    227,833     205,970    201,544    249,067     242,937     245,121    263,868    295,072
Minnesota.....         140,089    139,026    141,178     131,850    118,610    143,481     142,695     144,422    145,373    155,252
Mississippi.....        65,791     57,582     55,524      54,090     57,009     57,571      58,523      68,125     66,097     68,718
Missouri.....          138,451    137,642    142,593     133,936    133,000    141,379     139,452     147,646    144,905    167,561
Montana.....            32,517     30,702     27,908      27,599     28,115     28,468      30,160      31,601     28,770     31,199
Nebraska.....           47,931     46,332     44,468      45,474     44,255     47,536      42,107      47,868     45,394     50,122
Nevada.....             85,876     76,077     71,885      66,270     62,916     77,350      85,232      84,034     86,950     99,850
New Hampshire.....      39,237     35,433     38,576      34,837     33,804     38,422      37,137      38,970     38,872     41,707

New Jersey.....        227,637    202,756    230,667     196,277    189,705    218,322     213,561     225,045    234,424    247,770
New Mexico.....         47,752     44,333     43,833      44,736     39,679     44,620      41,459      47,977     45,529     51,967
New York.....          492,874    435,576    471,669     440,884    441,693    439,494     450,588     466,336    470,365    511,515
North Carolina.....    233,942    222,100    207,441     206,032    199,409    217,800     221,137     237,807    240,101    266,928
North Dakota.....       20,281     21,771     19,325      20,897     19,509     17,305      17,438      18,918     18,489     19,267
Ohio.....              270,727    243,918    271,662     245,865    228,707    274,342     283,287     273,471    281,477    320,542
Oklahoma.....           80,007     86,731     81,885      80,037     77,009     77,962      72,919      80,295     77,491     83,065
Oregon.....            107,206     97,406     89,219      97,615     86,078    103,814     100,289     110,881     98,568    126,138
Pennsylvania.....      289,282    267,831    287,681     267,451    255,471    275,587     274,187     282,520    290,479    310,328
Rhode Island.....       25,807     23,562     26,773      24,724     21,871     28,218      26,635      27,873     28,605     30,457

South Carolina.....    103,048     99,070     92,276      87,937     84,926    105,799     100,963     107,813    108,041    123,569
South Dakota.....       21,382     21,942     21,298      21,110     20,975     20,270      19,382      21,663     20,789     22,676
Tennessee.....         141,888    133,791    131,679     126,191    117,983    133,361     138,012     150,958    158,301    162,740
Texas.....             568,802    535,846    529,866     499,414    534,436    487,640     484,274     520,811    533,886    563,061
Utah.....               81,880     71,826     70,125      67,227     65,565     75,317      71,419      77,237     73,222     82,140
Vermont.....            20,368     17,728     18,395      17,109     17,491     18,694      19,372      18,709     19,096     20,345
Virginia.....          184,806    186,117    185,464     176,537    169,652    186,717     181,561     190,261    198,251    209,325
Washington.....        185,367    185,681    160,249     172,149    156,619    164,540     167,911     188,699    163,055    203,989
West Virginia.....      40,109     36,735     35,116      38,356     37,530     36,420      37,112      37,914     36,140     38,723
Wisconsin.....         136,739    133,678    138,886     129,435    127,923    135,453     136,642     144,751    150,913    162,478

Wyoming.....            23,500     23,351     19,438      21,024     19,620     18,010      19,803      23,122     18,684     19,854
Puerto Rico.....        49,548     43,097     43,855      42,205     44,854     49,977      56,195      52,124     47,635     50,209
Virgin Islands.....      2,261      2,193      2,119       1,927      1,881      2,234       2,157       2,482      2,302      2,197

(1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Table 6.  Private sector gross job gains and losses as a percent of total employment by state, seasonally adjusted

                        Gross job gains as a percent of employment    Gross job losses as a percent of employment
State                              (3 months ended)                               (3 months ended)

                        Dec.    March    June     Sept.   Dec.        Dec.     March     June    Sept.    Dec. 
                        2007    2008     2008     2008    2008        2007     2008      2008    2008     2008

United States1.....      6.8     6.2      6.4      6.1     6.0         6.5      6.5       6.8      6.9     7.6

Alabama.....             6.8     6.0      5.9      5.9     5.4         6.5      6.5       6.6      6.7     7.7
Alaska.....             10.6    10.2     11.5      9.7    10.9        11.2      9.0       9.7     10.8    11.2
Arizona.....             7.0     5.9      6.2      6.3     6.0         7.7      7.1       7.7      7.3     9.1
Arkansas.....            6.2     5.8      5.7      6.1     5.6         5.8      5.7       6.3      6.2     6.8
California.....          7.7     6.8      7.2      6.5     6.5         7.0      7.5       7.7      7.6     8.1
Colorado.....            7.6     7.4      7.3      7.0     6.7         7.3      7.1       7.3      7.7     8.3
Connecticut.....         5.9     5.3      5.7      5.2     5.1         5.7      5.3       5.5      6.0     6.5
Delaware.....            7.1     6.2      6.3      6.5     6.6         6.4      6.4       7.3      8.0     7.8
District of Columbia..   6.0     6.2      6.6      6.1     5.6         6.1      5.6       5.9      5.8     6.8
Florida.....             7.4     6.8      6.8      6.6     6.9         8.1      7.5       8.4      8.3     9.0

Georgia.....             7.3     7.1      7.0      6.7     6.6         7.5      7.3       7.9      7.7     9.1
Hawaii.....              5.4     5.4      5.3      4.9     4.9         5.2      5.7       6.9      6.9     6.8
Idaho.....               8.5     8.0      7.5      7.6     7.3         7.7      8.6       8.9      8.6     9.4
Illinois.....            5.7     5.0      5.5      5.0     4.9         5.6      5.4       5.4      5.8     6.7
Indiana.....             5.9     5.2      6.0      5.7     5.4         6.0      6.1       6.3      6.6     7.9
Iowa.....                6.1     6.0      6.0      5.7     5.7         5.8      6.0       6.1      6.1     6.8
Kansas.....              6.5     7.7      6.5      6.0     6.7         6.6      6.7       6.8      6.7     7.0
Kentucky.....            6.6     5.9      6.1      5.6     5.8         6.1      6.3       6.3      6.6     7.2
Louisiana.....           7.4     6.9      6.9      6.6     7.8         6.7      6.5       7.1      7.7     6.8
Maine.....               8.0     7.0      7.8      7.0     7.7         7.3      7.6       7.8      8.4     8.4

Maryland.....            6.4     6.2      6.3      6.2     6.1         6.6      6.4       7.0      6.9     7.6
Massachusetts.....       5.9     5.6      6.0      5.4     5.2         6.1      5.5       5.8      6.2     6.8
Michigan.....            6.4     5.9      6.5      5.9     5.9         7.0      6.9       6.9      7.6     8.7
Minnesota.....           6.0     6.0      6.1      5.7     5.2         6.2      6.1       6.2      6.3     6.8
Mississippi.....         7.3     6.3      6.2      6.1     6.6         6.4      6.5       7.6      7.4     7.8
Missouri.....            6.0     6.0      6.2      5.9     5.9         6.2      6.1       6.4      6.4     7.4
Montana.....             9.0     8.5      7.8      7.7     7.9         8.0      8.4       8.8      8.1     8.8
Nebraska.....            6.3     6.0      5.8      6.0     5.7         6.2      5.5       6.2      6.0     6.6
Nevada.....              7.6     6.7      6.5      6.0     5.8         6.8      7.6       7.6      8.0     9.3
New Hampshire.....       7.2     6.5      7.1      6.4     6.3         7.1      6.8       7.2      7.2     7.8

New Jersey.....          6.8     6.1      6.9      5.9     5.8         6.5      6.3       6.7      7.0     7.5
New Mexico.....          7.5     6.9      6.8      7.0     6.2         7.0      6.5       7.5      7.2     8.2
New York.....            6.9     6.1      6.6      6.1     6.2         6.2      6.3       6.5      6.5     7.1
North Carolina.....      6.8     6.5      6.1      6.1     6.0         6.4      6.5       7.0      7.2     8.1
North Dakota.....        7.2     7.7      6.8      7.3     6.8         6.2      6.1       6.7      6.4     6.7
Ohio.....                6.0     5.4      6.1      5.5     5.1         6.1      6.3       6.0      6.2     7.2
Oklahoma.....            6.5     7.0      6.6      6.4     6.2         6.4      5.9       6.5      6.2     6.8
Oregon.....              7.3     6.7      6.2      6.8     6.1         7.1      6.9       7.7      6.9     8.9
Pennsylvania.....        5.8     5.4      5.8      5.4     5.2         5.6      5.6       5.7      5.9     6.4
Rhode Island.....        6.2     5.7      6.5      6.1     5.5         6.8      6.4       6.8      7.0     7.5

South Carolina.....      6.6     6.3      5.9      5.7     5.6         6.7      6.5       6.9      7.1     8.2
South Dakota.....        6.6     6.7      6.5      6.5     6.4         6.2      5.9       6.7      6.4     7.0
Tennessee.....           6.1     5.7      5.7      5.5     5.2         5.7      5.8       6.5      6.9     7.2
Texas.....               6.7     6.1      6.1      5.8     6.2         5.6      5.6       6.0      6.2     6.5
Utah.....                7.9     7.0      6.8      6.6     6.5         7.3      6.9       7.5      7.1     8.1
Vermont.....             8.2     7.0      7.4      6.9     7.1         7.5      7.7       7.4      7.7     8.2
Virginia.....            6.1     6.2      6.2      5.9     5.8         6.2      6.0       6.3      6.6     7.1
Washington.....          7.7     7.6      6.7      7.2     6.6         6.8      7.0       7.8      6.8     8.5
West Virginia.....       7.0     6.4      6.2      6.8     6.6         6.3      6.5       6.6      6.3     6.8
Wisconsin.....           5.7     5.6      5.8      5.4     5.4         5.7      5.7       6.1      6.4     6.8

Wyoming.....            10.8    10.5      8.7      9.5     8.8         8.2      8.9      10.4      8.4     8.9
Puerto Rico.....         6.7     5.9      6.1      5.9     6.3         6.8      7.6       7.2      6.6     7.0
Virgin Islands.....      6.8     6.6      6.5      5.9     5.8         6.8      6.5       7.5      7.1     6.7

(1) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Table 7.  Private sector establishment births and deaths, seasonally adjusted

Total private

(Levels in thousands)

                              Number of Establishments                     Employment
                             Births(1)          Deaths(2)            Births             Deaths
Year  3 months ended     Level    Rate(3)   Level    Rate       Level      Rate    Level      Rate

1992  September           N/A      N/A       149     2.8         N/A        N/A      951       1.1
      December            N/A      N/A       153     2.8         N/A        N/A      931       1.0
  
1993  March               N/A      N/A       158     2.9         N/A        N/A    1,038       1.2
      June                175      3.2       155     2.8        1,064       1.2      915       1.0
      September           186      3.4       144     2.6        1,123       1.2      850        .9
      December            174      3.1       147     2.7        1,109       1.2      899       1.0
  
1994  March               180      3.2       157     2.8        1,109       1.2      965       1.0
      June                186      3.3       162     2.9        1,196       1.3      959       1.0
      September           192      3.4       151     2.7        1,184       1.3      849        .9
      December            188      3.3       166     2.9        1,133       1.2      942       1.0
  
1995  March               187      3.3       156     2.7        1,154       1.2      910        .9
      June                189      3.3       162     2.8        1,190       1.2      960       1.0
      September           186      3.2       164     2.9        1,142       1.2      957       1.0
      December            190      3.3       168     2.9        1,164       1.2      972       1.0
  
1996  March               194      3.4       169     2.9        1,193       1.2    1,004       1.0
      June                191      3.3       166     2.9        1,261       1.3      960       1.0
      September           199      3.4       166     2.8        1,233       1.2    1,007       1.0
      December            204      3.5       170     2.9        1,302       1.3      992       1.0
  
1997  March               202      3.4       173     2.9        1,242       1.2    1,055       1.0
      June                195      3.3       174     2.9        1,226       1.2      993       1.0
      September           196      3.3       166     2.8        1,241       1.2    1,007       1.0
      December            196      3.3       184     3.1        1,274       1.2    1,154       1.1
  
1998  March               206      3.4       178     3.0        1,328       1.3    1,165       1.1
      June                206      3.4       167     2.8        1,327       1.3    1,215       1.2
      September           201      3.3       178     2.9        1,257       1.2    1,102       1.0
      December            192      3.1       180     2.9        1,198       1.1    1,088       1.0
  
1999  March               198      3.2       184     3.0        1,305       1.2    1,248       1.2
      June                206      3.4       184     3.0        1,308       1.2    1,118       1.0
      September           206      3.3       186     3.0        1,243       1.2    1,127       1.0
      December            203      3.3       183     3.0        1,207       1.1    1,102       1.0
  
2000  March               211      3.4       186     3.0        1,227       1.1    1,117       1.0
      June                205      3.3       181     2.9        1,142       1.0    1,063       1.0
      September           212      3.4       199     3.2        1,166       1.1    1,167       1.1
      December            200      3.2       194     3.1        1,144       1.0    1,120       1.0
  
2001  March               205      3.3       203     3.2        1,174       1.1    1,292       1.2
      June                204      3.2       205     3.3        1,151       1.0    1,236       1.1
      September           204      3.2       209     3.3        1,156       1.1    1,232       1.1
      December            197      3.1       200     3.2        1,121       1.0    1,150       1.1
  
2002  March               203      3.2       190     3.0        1,202       1.1    1,109       1.0
      June                209      3.3       186     2.9        1,192       1.1    1,086       1.0
      September           201      3.2       184     2.9        1,055       1.0    1,026       1.0
      December            203      3.2       191     3.0        1,026       1.0    1,028       1.0
  
2003  March               192      3.0       186     2.9          997        .9    1,007        .9
      June                192      3.0       186     2.9          965        .9      956        .9
      September           193      3.0       179     2.8          959        .9      884        .8
      December            201      3.1       179     2.8        1,010        .9      921        .9
  
2004  March               204      3.1       180     2.8          992        .9      912        .8
      June                202      3.1       185     2.8          986        .9      912        .8
      September           210      3.2       186     2.8        1,021        .9      955        .9
      December            212      3.2       180     2.7        1,001        .9      901        .8
  
2005  March               209      3.1       184     2.8          937        .9      846        .8
      June                216      3.2       180     2.7          955        .9      844        .8
      September           220      3.3       185     2.8        1,001        .9      885        .8
      December            223      3.3       188     2.8          980        .9      853        .8
  
2006  March               220      3.2       180     2.6          913        .8      738        .7
      June                220      3.2       194     2.8          977        .9      846        .8
      September           210      3.1       195     2.8          930        .8      837        .7
      December            221      3.2       193     2.8          969        .9      815        .7
  
2007  March               212      3.1       193     2.8          885        .8      758        .7
      June                204      2.9       202     2.9          886        .8      856        .8
      September           218      3.1       203     2.9          948        .8      843        .7
      December            210      3.0       207     3.0          908        .8      841        .7
  
2008  March               209      3.0       212     3.0          913        .8      807        .7
      June                195      2.8       N/A     N/A          860        .8      N/A       N/A
      September           187      2.7       N/A     N/A          813        .7      N/A       N/A
      December            189      2.7       N/A     N/A          794        .7      N/A       N/A
  

(1) Values for births are not available for the first three quarters
    of the time series by definition.  See the Technical Note for more information.

(2) Values for deaths are not available for the most recent three quarters
    by definition.  See the Technical Note for more information.

(3) The rates measure births and deaths as a percentage
    of the average of the previous and current quarter employment levels or
    total number of establishments.

Last Modified Date: August 19, 2009