From March 2016 to June 2016, gross job gains in private sector establishments in Colorado totaled 148,006, while gross job losses numbered 138,701, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 9,305. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that gross jobs gains exceeded gross job losses by 9,964 during the previous quarter.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Technical Note for more information.)

Gross job gains in Colorado increased by 7,990 from March 2016 to June 2016 and have been above 140,000 for the last nine consecutive quarters. Gross job losses also increased for the 3-months ended in June 2016, up 8,649, and were at their highest level since the second quarter of 2009. Despite the increase in the number of gross job losses in this quarter, gross job gains have exceeded gross job losses in each quarter since June 2010. (See chart 1.)

Gross job gains represented 6.9 percent of private sector employment in Colorado in the quarter ended June 2016, while nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.2 percent of private employment. Colorado’s rate of gross job losses as a percent of private sector employment was 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2016, higher than the national rate of 6.0 percent. (See chart 2.) The rates of both gross job gains and gross job losses in Colorado have been above the U.S. rate since data were first published in 1992.

During the second quarter of 2016, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 9 of the 11 industry sectors in Colorado. For example, within leisure and hospitality, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 3,768. While 32,462 jobs in the industry were created by opening and expanding establishments, 28,694 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments in the 3-months ended in June 2016. In education and health services, 15,884 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments and 13,542 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments. Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by more than 1,000 in two other industry sectors—professional and business services (1,556) and financial activities (1,528). (See table 1.)

In contrast, two industry sectors had gross job losses that exceeded gross job gains in the second quarter of 2016. Wholesale trade had a net decrease of 271 jobs and manufacturing had a net loss of 236 jobs.

For More Information

BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. For more information on the Business Employment Dynamics data, visit the BED web site at www.bls.gov/bdm/.

The Business Employment Dynamics for Third Quarter 2016 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).

Technical Note

The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or the ES-202 program. The BED data are compiled from existing quarterly QCEW records. The QCEW reports are sent by the State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) to BLS and form the basis of the Bureau’s QCEW program and establishment universe sampling frame. These reports are also used to produce the QCEW data on total employment and wages. Other important Bureau uses of the QCEW reports are in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES program produces monthly estimates of employment, net changes, and earnings by detailed industry.

In the BED program, the QCEW records are linked across quarters to provide a longitudinal history for each establishment. The linkage process allows the tracking of net employment changes at the establishment level, which in turn allows the estimation of jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments and jobs lost at closing and contracting establishments.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. BED statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.

Gross job gains and gross job losses are expressed as rates by dividing their levels by the average of employment in the current and previous quarters. The rates are calculated for the components of gross job gains and gross job losses and then summed to form their respective totals. These rates can be added and subtracted just as their levels can. For instance, the difference between the gross job gains rate and the gross job losses rate is the net growth rate.

The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:

Openings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment for the first time in the current quarter, with no links to the prior quarter, or with positive third month employment in the current quarter following zero employment in the previous quarter.

Expansions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net increase in employment over this period.

Closings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment in the previous quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current quarter.

Contractions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment over this period.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

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

Category	Gross job gains and job losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	June 2015	Sept 2015	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016	June 2015	Sept 2015	Dec. 2015	Mar. 2016	June 2016
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	146,462	146,856	147,332	140,016	148,006	7.0	7.0	7.0	6.6	6.9
At expanding establishments	120,560	118,194	118,178	112,216	118,474	5.8	5.6	5.6	5.3	5.5
At opening establishments	25,902	28,662	29,154	27,800	29,532	1.2	1.4	1.4	1.3	1.4
Gross job losses	134,781	134,443	134,691	130,052	138,701	6.4	6.4	6.4	6.1	6.5
At contracting establishments	109,117	109,632	108,951	106,107	110,250	5.2	5.2	5.2	5.0	5.2
At closing establishments	25,664	24,811	25,740	23,945	28,451	1.2	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.3
Net employment change (2)	11,681	12,413	12,641	9,964	9,305	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5	0.4
Construction
Gross job gains	13,839	14,112	15,495	15,481	14,309	9.4	9.6	10.3	10.1	9.3
At expanding establishments	11,347	11,233	12,474	12,623	11,397	7.7	7.6	8.3	8.2	7.4
At opening establishments	2,492	2,879	3,021	2,858	2,912	1.7	2.0	2.0	1.9	1.9
Gross job losses	14,745	13,120	12,352	13,286	14,243	9.9	8.9	8.3	8.6	9.2
At contracting establishments	12,040	10,667	9,723	10,640	11,186	8.1	7.2	6.5	6.9	7.2
At closing establishments	2,705	2,453	2,629	2,646	3,057	1.8	1.7	1.8	1.7	2.0
Net employment change (2)	-906	992	3,143	2,195	66	-0.5	0.7	2.0	1.5	0.1
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	6,003	4,987	5,349	5,302	5,184	4.3	3.5	3.7	3.7	3.7
At expanding establishments	5,458	4,401	4,717	4,608	4,504	3.9	3.1	3.3	3.2	3.2
At opening establishments	545	586	632	694	680	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.5	0.5
Gross job losses	5,113	4,837	5,271	4,748	5,420	3.7	3.4	3.8	3.3	3.8
At contracting establishments	4,329	4,285	4,484	4,186	4,640	3.1	3.0	3.2	2.9	3.3
At closing establishments	784	552	787	562	780	0.6	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.5
Net employment change (2)	890	150	78	554	-236	0.6	0.1	-0.1	0.4	-0.1
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	5,266	5,011	5,280	4,951	5,300	5.1	4.8	5.1	4.8	5.1
At expanding establishments	4,381	4,071	4,165	4,044	4,042	4.2	3.9	4.0	3.9	3.9
At opening establishments	885	940	1,115	907	1,258	0.9	0.9	1.1	0.9	1.2
Gross job losses	5,118	4,537	4,362	4,786	5,571	5.0	4.4	4.2	4.6	5.3
At contracting establishments	3,874	3,370	3,355	3,531	4,123	3.8	3.3	3.2	3.4	3.9
At closing establishments	1,244	1,167	1,007	1,255	1,448	1.2	1.1	1.0	1.2	1.4
Net employment change (2)	148	474	918	165	-271	0.1	0.4	0.9	0.2	-0.2
Retail trade
Gross job gains	17,507	17,100	16,618	17,471	16,934	6.6	6.5	6.3	6.6	6.3
At expanding establishments	15,129	14,571	14,341	14,882	14,858	5.7	5.5	5.4	5.6	5.5
At opening establishments	2,378	2,529	2,277	2,589	2,076	0.9	1.0	0.9	1.0	0.8
Gross job losses	14,629	16,411	15,108	14,913	16,229	5.5	6.2	5.7	5.5	6.0
At contracting establishments	12,490	14,220	13,455	13,499	14,110	4.7	5.4	5.1	5.0	5.2
At closing establishments	2,139	2,191	1,653	1,414	2,119	0.8	0.8	0.6	0.5	0.8
Net employment change (2)	2,878	689	1,510	2,558	705	1.1	0.3	0.6	1.1	0.3
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	4,658	4,373	4,812	3,628	4,159	6.9	6.5	7.1	5.3	6.1
At expanding establishments	4,167	3,750	4,212	3,082	3,553	6.2	5.6	6.2	4.5	5.2
At opening establishments	491	623	600	546	606	0.7	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.9
Gross job losses	4,676	4,608	3,636	4,785	4,020	6.9	6.9	5.4	7.0	5.9
At contracting establishments	3,909	3,883	2,850	4,138	3,184	5.8	5.8	4.2	6.1	4.7
At closing establishments	767	725	786	647	836	1.1	1.1	1.2	0.9	1.2
Net employment change (2)	-18	-235	1,176	-1,157	139	0.0	-0.4	1.7	-1.7	0.2
Information
Gross job gains	2,949	2,878	3,593	2,566	2,996	4.2	4.0	5.0	3.6	4.2
At expanding establishments	2,488	2,510	3,134	2,121	2,545	3.5	3.5	4.4	3.0	3.6
At opening establishments	461	368	459	445	451	0.7	0.5	0.6	0.6	0.6
Gross job losses	2,805	2,499	3,654	2,178	2,992	4.0	3.5	5.1	3.0	4.2
At contracting establishments	2,442	2,142	3,223	1,790	2,433	3.5	3.0	4.5	2.5	3.4
At closing establishments	363	357	431	388	559	0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5	0.8
Net employment change (2)	144	379	-61	388	4	0.2	0.5	-0.1	0.6	0.0
Financial activities
Gross job gains	9,234	9,283	8,916	8,026	9,257	6.1	6.1	5.7	5.1	5.9
At expanding establishments	7,258	7,321	6,672	6,111	6,971	4.8	4.8	4.3	3.9	4.4
At opening establishments	1,976	1,962	2,244	1,915	2,286	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.2	1.5
Gross job losses	7,559	7,944	7,794	7,653	7,729	5.0	5.2	5.0	4.9	4.9
At contracting establishments	5,346	5,625	5,663	5,335	5,666	3.5	3.7	3.6	3.4	3.6
At closing establishments	2,213	2,319	2,131	2,318	2,063	1.5	1.5	1.4	1.5	1.3
Net employment change (2)	1,675	1,339	1,122	373	1,528	1.1	0.9	0.7	0.2	1.0
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	29,408	29,726	30,629	27,432	30,529	7.4	7.4	7.6	6.9	7.6
At expanding establishments	23,297	23,254	22,950	21,198	23,790	5.9	5.8	5.7	5.3	5.9
At opening establishments	6,111	6,472	7,679	6,234	6,739	1.5	1.6	1.9	1.6	1.7
Gross job losses	28,752	27,065	29,392	27,392	28,973	7.2	6.8	7.3	6.8	7.2
At contracting establishments	21,916	20,601	21,820	21,100	21,742	5.5	5.2	5.4	5.2	5.4
At closing establishments	6,836	6,464	7,572	6,292	7,231	1.7	1.6	1.9	1.6	1.8
Net employment change (2)	656	2,661	1,237	40	1,556	0.2	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.4
Education and health services
Gross job gains	15,133	15,219	15,779	14,358	15,884	4.9	4.9	5.0	4.6	5.0
At expanding establishments	12,875	12,980	13,208	11,871	13,074	4.2	4.2	4.2	3.8	4.1
At opening establishments	2,258	2,239	2,571	2,487	2,810	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	0.9
Gross job losses	12,195	12,377	11,977	12,422	13,542	4.0	4.0	3.8	4.0	4.2
At contracting establishments	9,801	10,006	9,486	10,288	9,948	3.2	3.2	3.0	3.3	3.1
At closing establishments	2,394	2,371	2,491	2,134	3,594	0.8	0.8	0.8	0.7	1.1
Net employment change (2)	2,938	2,842	3,802	1,936	2,342	0.9	0.9	1.2	0.6	0.8
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	32,060	33,545	31,041	30,609	32,462	10.3	10.6	9.7	9.5	9.9
At expanding establishments	26,849	26,967	24,935	24,155	26,136	8.6	8.5	7.8	7.5	8.0
At opening establishments	5,211	6,578	6,106	6,454	6,326	1.7	2.1	1.9	2.0	1.9
Gross job losses	27,608	30,063	30,683	27,776	28,694	8.8	9.5	9.6	8.7	8.9
At contracting establishments	23,416	26,081	26,591	23,682	24,258	7.5	8.2	8.3	7.4	7.5
At closing establishments	4,192	3,982	4,092	4,094	4,436	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.4
Net employment change (2)	4,452	3,482	358	2,833	3,768	1.5	1.1	0.1	0.8	1.0
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	5,439	5,586	5,422	5,579	5,863	7.7	7.8	7.5	7.7	8.1
At expanding establishments	4,196	4,304	4,195	4,194	4,556	5.9	6.0	5.8	5.8	6.3
At opening establishments	1,243	1,282	1,227	1,385	1,307	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.9	1.8
Gross job losses	5,088	4,796	5,170	5,107	5,143	7.2	6.8	7.2	7.1	7.1
At contracting establishments	3,819	3,538	3,967	3,819	3,901	5.4	5.0	5.5	5.3	5.4
At closing establishments	1,269	1,258	1,203	1,288	1,242	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.8	1.7
Net employment change (2)	351	790	252	472	720	0.5	1.0	0.3	0.6	1.0
Footnotes: (1) Includes unclassified sector not shown separately. (2) The net employment change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses. See the Technical Note for further information. (3) Except public administration.