November 21, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Gross job gains and losses in the first quarter of 2005

From December 2004 to March 2005, the number of job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments was 7.6 million and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments was 7.3 million.

[Chart data—TXT]

Opening and expanding private sector business establishments gained 7.6 million jobs in the first quarter of 2005, a decrease of 446,000 from the previous quarter's total. This was the smallest number of gross job gains recorded in five quarters. Over the first quarter, expanding establishments added 6.2 million jobs, while opening establishments added 1.5 million jobs.

First quarter gross job losses totaled 7.3 million, a slight increase from the prior gross job loss total of 7.2 million. During the quarter, contracting establishments lost 5.9 million jobs, while closing establishments accounted for a loss of 1.5 million jobs.

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: First Quarter 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 05–2196.