Gross job gains and losses in the fourth quarter of 2011

From September to December 2011, gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments totaled 6.9 million, a decrease of 204,000 from the previous 3-month period. The number of gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments in the fourth quarter of 2011 was 6.5 million, an increase of 181,000 from the previous quarter.

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The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment change of 368,000 jobs in the private sector during the fourth quarter of 2011. Gross job gains represented 6.3 percent of private sector employment, while gross job losses represented 6.0 percent of private sector employment.

Gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 5.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decrease of 203,000 from the previous quarter. Gross job losses at contracting establishments equaled 5.2 million, an increase of 52,000 from third quarter 2011.

These data are from the Business Employment Dynamics (BED) program. 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. To learn more, see "Business Employment Dynamics–Fourth Quarter 2011" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-12-1530.