Business Employment Dynamics – First Quarter 2023
From December 2022 to March 2023, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments were 8.0 million, a decrease of 67,000 jobs from the previous quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments were 7.1 million, a decrease of 565,000 jobs from the previous quarter. The
difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 976,000 jobs in the private sector during the first quarter of 2023.
The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of
gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See Technical Note.) The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector 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.
Gross Job Gains
In the first quarter of 2023, gross job gains represented 6.2 percent of private-sector employment. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the
addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 6.5 million in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 68,000 jobs compared to the previous quarter.
Opening establishments accounted for 1.5 million of the jobs gained in the first quarter of 2023, a decrease of 135,000 jobs from the previous quarter.
Establishment Births and Deaths
In the first quarter of 2023, the number of establishment births (a subset of the openings data) decreased by 13,000 to a total of 331,000 establishments. These new establishments accounted for 944,000 jobs, a decrease of 101,000 jobs from the previous quarter. Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through the second quarter of 2022, when 925,000 jobs were
lost at 322,000 establishments, an increase of 181,000 jobs from the first quarter of 2022.
Firm Size
In the first quarter of 2023, firms with 1 to 49 employees had a net employment increase of 317,000. Firms with 50 to 249 employees had a net employment gain of 275,000. Firms with 250 or more employees had a net employment increase of 512,000.
Industries
Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 10 out of the 13 industry sectors in the first quarter of 2023. The service-providing industries experienced a net job gain of 844,000. The goods-producing industries
had a net job increase of 132,000.
States
Gross job gains surpassed gross job losses in 49 states, the District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands in the first quarter of 2023.