Business Employment Dynamics

Business Employment Dynamics: Third Quarter, 2008

May 19, 2009

From June 2008 to September 2008, the number of job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments was 6.8 million, and the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments was 7.8 million. More...
(HTML) (PDF)

Current

• Quarterly Data on Business Employment Dynamics (HTML) (PDF) — this release includes updates for the private sector as a whole and for firm size classes.
• Quarterly Data From BLS on Business Employment Dynamics by State (TXT) (PDF) — State-level Business Employment Dynamics.
• Firm Size Class Quarterly Data (HTML) (PDF) — this initial release of firm size class data includes analysis of data series that begin in 1992.
• County Employment and Wages (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service — receive the Quarterly Data on Business Employment Dynamics news releases by e-mail.

Archived

• Archived Business Employment Dynamics Releases (4th Quarter, 2002 forward)

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Tutorials: For help, try these tutorials
Business Employment Dynamics (BDM)

More Tools

• Series Report —Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.
• Flat files FTP Site —For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.

• National industry data
• National firm size data
• Size of change data
• State data
• Annual data

• Sherly L. Konigsberg, James R. Spletzer, David M. Talan, “Business employment dynamics: tabulations by size of employment change.” April 2009 Monthly Labor Review
• Akbar Sadeghi, “The births and deaths of business establishments in the United States.” December 2008 Monthly Labor Review
• Zhi Boon, Charles M. Carson, R. Jason Faberman, and Randy E. Ilg, “Studying the labor market using BLS labor dynamics data.” February 2008 Monthly Labor Review
• Amy E. Knaup and Merissa C. Piazza, “Business Employment Dynamics data: survival and longevity, II” September 2007 Monthly Labor Review
• Sheryl Konigsberg, “The Geospatial Distribution of Employment: A New Visual Asset.” March 2007 Monthly Labor Review
• Jessica Helfand, Akbar Sadeghi and David Talan, “Employment Dynamics: Small and Large Firms Over the Business Cycle.” March 2007 Monthly Labor Review
• Cordelia Okolie, “Why Size Class Methodology Matters in Analyses of Net and Gross Job Flows.” July 2004 Monthly Labor Review
• James R. Spletzer, R. Jason Faberman, Akbar Sadeghi, David M. Talan, and Richard L. Clayton, “Business Employment Dynamics: New Data on Gross Job Gains and Losses.” April 2004 Monthly Labor Review
• Joshua Pinkston and James Spletzer, “Annual Measures of Job Creation and Job Destruction Created from Quarterly Microdata.”
• Timothy R. Pivetz, Michael A. Searson, and James R. Spletzer, “Measuring Job and Establishment Flows with BLS Longitudinal Microdata.” April 2001 Monthly Labor Review

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are Business Employment Dynamics?
2. How are Business Employment Dynamics data calculated?
3. What are the sources of Business Employment Dynamics?
4. What is the scope of Business Employment Dynamics?
5. What is not included in Business Employment Dynamics?
6. What are the differences between Business Employment Dynamics data and Current Employment Statistics (CES) and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or ES-202, program data?
7. What is the difference between Business Employment Dynamics and the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)?
8. What is the reference period?
9. How is the net change in employment measured?
10. How are the rates for gross job gains and losses calculated?
11. How are establishments linked over time?
12. What is seasonal adjustment?
13. How are Business Employment Dynamics seasonally adjusted?
14. What are openings?
15. What are expansions?
16. What are closings?
17. What are contractions?
18. Are the Business Employment Dynamics data from a survey?
19. What are the uses of Business Employment Dynamics data?

All BDM FAQs »

• NOTE: Two new sets of Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data series are coming available with the release of third quarter 2008 data.  New national series on total private sector births and deaths (number of establishments and employment) are included as a regular feature of the news release. New national series on births and deaths by major industry sector are available at www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmind.htm, and new State series on total private sector births and deaths are at www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmstate.htm.
  The other new BED series coming available are annual data, which measure gross job gains and losses by comparing establishment employment for a month to establishment employment for the same month one year later.  Annual BED data are at www.bls.gov/bdm/bdmann.htm and will be updated once a year with the release of first quarter data.

• Firm Size Class Data: Questions and Answers

• Assessing the Timeliness of Business Births in BLS Establishment Statistics (PDF 71K)

Other BLS Programs

• Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages — a quarterly count of employment and wages reported by employers covering 98 percent of U.S. jobs, available at the county, metropolitan area, state and national levels by industry.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (National) — monthly national data by detailed industry on employment, hours, and earnings of workers on the payrolls of nonfarm establishments.
• Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the CES survey (State and Area) — monthly data on employment, hours, and earnings by industry and geographic area.

Other Useful Links

• Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration: Frequently Asked Questions —Answers to questions about wages, overtime, work hours, recordkeeping, and child labor.
• Colorado Business Employment Dynamics Data (PDF) — by Michael Rose, Chief, Statistical Programs, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. (Disclaimer: Links to non-BLS Internet sites are provided for your convenience and do not constitute an endorsement.)
• U.S. Small Business Administration

Office of Employment and Unemployment Statistics
Business Employment Dynamics
Suite 4840
2 Massachusetts Ave, NE
Washington, DC 20212-0001