New Quarterly Data On Business Employment Dynamics From Bls — 2003-09-30

New quarterly data on business employment dynamics were issued today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. These data quantify the sizable number of jobs that appear and disappear in the U.S. economy each quarter. From September 2002 to December 2002, the number of job gains from opening and expanding establishments and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments each were nearly 8 million. The data also show that the net employment declines associated with the 2001 recession resulted from a large temporary increase in gross job losses accompanied by a sharp decrease in gross job gains. As of December 2002, gross job gains had not returned to pre-recession levels. The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all establishments in the economy.