August 19, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Gross job gains and losses in the fourth quarter of 2004

From September to December 2004, the number of job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments was 8.1 million, and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments was 7.2 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

The gain in jobs in the fourth quarter of 2004 was the largest gross job gain since the first quarter of 2002. Expanding establishments added 6.4 million jobs and opening establishments added 1.7 million jobs from the third to the fourth quarter of 2004.

Gross job losses totaled 7.2 million in the fourth quarter, a smaller loss than the 7.6 million in the third quarter of 2004. In the fourth quarter of 2004, contracting establishments lost 5.7 million jobs and closing establishments lost 1.5 million jobs.

These data are from the BLS Business Employment Dynamics program and are seasonally adjusted. To learn more about job gains and losses, see Business Employment Dynamics: Fourth Quarter 2004 (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05-1562. Gross job gains are increases in employment resulting from expansions of employment at existing establishments or from the opening of establishments. Gross job losses are declines in employment at existing establishments or from the closing of establishments. The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.