Quarterly Data Series on Business Employment Dynamics News Release — 2010-08-18

From September to December 2009 the number of gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments increased to 6.6 million, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments were 6.8 million. Job losses have steadily decreased from a recent high of 8.5 million in December 2008 to their lowest level since June 1994. Firms of all sizes experienced continued net job losses in the fourth quarter of 2009. Firms with 1 to 49 employees accounted for 61.8 percent of all net losses. 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 units from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next.