February 25, 2009 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Gross job gains and losses: second quarter 2008

Opening and expanding private sector business establishments gained 7.3 million jobs in the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 128,000 from the previous quarter. Gross job losses totaled 7.8 million, an increase of 351,000 from the previous quarter.

[Chart data—TXT]

The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost yielded a net change of -493,000 jobs in the private sector for second quarter 2008.

Over the quarter, expanding establishments added 5.9 million jobs while opening establishments added 1.4 million jobs.

During the quarter, contracting establishments lost 6.3 million jobs, while closing establishments lost 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: Second Quarter 2008," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 09–0184. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions in employment at existing units and the addition of new jobs at opening units. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing units and the loss of jobs at closing units.