February 16, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Gross job gains and losses in the second quarter of 2004

From March to June 2004, in the private sector the number of job gains from opening and expanding establishments was 7.9 million, and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments was 7.3 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

Over the second quarter of 2004, expanding establishments added 6.3 million jobs, while opening establishments added 1.6 million. Contracting establishments lost 5.7 million jobs, while closing establishments accounted for a loss of 1.5 million jobs. 

Between March and June 2004, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in the goods-producing sector for the second straight quarter. This was the first consecutive quarterly net gain in this sector since March 2000. Expanding and opening establishments in the goods-producing sector gained 1,696,000 jobs, while contracting and closing establishments lost 1,647,000 jobs, for a net gain of 49,000 jobs.

Gross job gains in the service-providing sector totaled 6.2 million jobs, exceeding gross job losses in that sector by 545,000 jobs. During the quarter, gross job gains rose strongly in professional and business services, financial activities, and leisure and hospitality, while they were little changed in other service-providing sectors.

These data are from Business Employment Dynamics. Data presented here are for workers in private industry covered by State unemployment insurance programs. Find more in "Business Employment Dynamics: Second Quarter 2004" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05–207.