From September 2017 to December 2017 gross job gains in South Dakota totaled 22,384 while gross job losses numbered 20,129, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Charlene Peiffer noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 2,255. During the previous quarter, gross job losses exceeded gross gains by 945.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change in employment. (See the Technical Note for more information.)

South Dakota’s 22,384 gross job gains in December 2017 were greater than the 19,852 gross job gains in September 2017. Over the past five years, gross job gains reached a high of 22,996 in December 2015 and a low of 19,852 in September 2017. (See chart 1.) South Dakota’s 20,129 gross job losses in December 2017 were fewer than the 20,797 gross job losses in the previous quarter. Over the past five years, gross job losses reached a high of 21,953 in June 2017 and a low of 18,975 in June 2013.

Gross job gains represented 6.4 percent of private sector employment in South Dakota in the fourth quarter of 2017, similar to the 6.4-percent national rate. (See chart 2.) In the fourth quarter of 2017, South Dakota’s rate of gross job losses as a percent of private sector employment was 5.7 percent compared to the national rate of 5.5 percent.

During the fourth quarter of 2017, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 5 of the 7 industry sectors in South Dakota. Within the construction sector, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 710. More than 3,100 jobs were created in opening and expanding establishments, while more than 2,400 jobs were lost within closing and contracting establishments. The remaining four industry sectors had net job gains of less than 500 each in the fourth quarter of 2017. (See table 1.)

Two industry sectors— financial activities and other services— had gross job losses that exceeded gross job gains by less than 100 each in the fourth quarter of 2017.

South Dakota was among the seven states in the West North Central Division. All seven states in the division had gross job gains that exceeded gross job losses. (See table A.) Five states in the division had rates of gross job gains below the 6.4-percent national rate. South Dakota had a rate of gross job gains that matched the national rate, while North Dakota had a rate of gross job gains that was higher than the national rate. Three states in the division had rates of gross job losses that were lower than the national rate of 5.5 percent. Nebraska’s rate of gross job losses matched the national rate, while three states, including South Dakota, had rates of gross job losses that were greater than the national rate.

Table A. Private sector gross job gains and losses for the United States, West North Central Division, and West North Central states, December 2017, seasonally adjusted

Area	Gross job gains		Gross job losses		Net change	Net change as a percent of total employment
	Total	As a percent of total employment	Total	As a percent of total employment
United States	7,793,000	6.4	6,794,000	5.5	999,000	0.9
West North Central (1)	517,830	—	479,787	—	38,043	—
Iowa	76,283	5.9	68,723	5.3	7,560	0.6
Kansas	68,399	6.1	59,348	5.2	9,051	0.9
Minnesota	143,126	5.8	137,173	5.6	5,953	0.2
Missouri	133,861	5.6	126,736	5.4	7,125	0.2
Nebraska	50,417	6.2	44,572	5.5	5,845	0.7
North Dakota	23,360	6.8	23,106	6.7	254	0.1
South Dakota	22,384	6.4	20,129	5.7	2,255	0.7
Footnotes: (1) Data were calculated for this release using published gross job gains and gross job losses for states located in the West North Central Census Division.
Note: Dash indicates data not available.

Additional statistics and other information

BED data for the states have been included in table 2 of this release. For more information on the Business Employment Dynamics data, visit the BED web site at www.bls.gov/bdm.

The Business Employment Dynamics release for first quarter 2018 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 7, 2018.

Technical Note

The Business Employment Dynamics (BED) data are a product of a federal-state cooperative program known as Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or the ES-202 program. The BED data are compiled from existing QCEW records. The QCEW reports are sent by the State Employment Security Agencies (SESAs) to BLS and form the basis of the Bureau’s QCEW program and establishment universe sampling frame. These reports are also used to produce the QCEW data on total employment and wages. Other important Bureau uses of the QCEW reports are in the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES program produces monthly estimates of employment, net changes, and earnings by detailed industry.

In the BED program, the QCEW records are linked across quarters to provide a longitudinal history for each establishment. The linkage process allows the tracking of net employment changes at the establishment level, which in turn allows the estimation of jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments and jobs lost at closing and contracting establishments.

The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all businesses in the economy. BED statistics track these changes in employment at private business establishments from the third month of one quarter to the third month of the next. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment from expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. The difference between the number of gross jobs gained and the number of gross jobs lost is the net change in employment.

Gross job gains and gross job losses are expressed as rates by dividing their levels by the average of employment in the current and previous quarters. The rates are calculated for the components of gross job gains and gross job losses and then summed to form their respective totals. These rates can be added and subtracted just as their levels can. For instance, the difference between the gross job gains rate and the gross job losses rate is the net growth rate.

The formal definitions of employment changes are as follows:

Openings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment for the first time in the current quarter, with no links to the prior quarter, or with positive third month employment in the current quarter following zero employment in the previous quarter.

Expansions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net increase in employment over this period.

Closings.  These are either establishments with positive third month employment in the previous quarter, with no employment or zero employment reported in the current quarter.

Contractions.  These are establishments with positive employment in the third month in both the previous and current quarters, with a net decrease in employment over this period.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Private sector gross job gains and losses by industry, South Dakota, seasonally adjusted

Category	Gross job gains and job losses (3 months ended)					Gross job gains and job losses as a percent of employment (3 months ended)
	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017	Dec. 2017	Dec. 2016	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept 2017	Dec. 2017
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	21,044	22,209	21,870	19,852	22,384	6.0	6.4	6.3	5.7	6.4
At expanding establishments	17,166	18,118	18,333	16,528	18,163	4.9	5.2	5.3	4.7	5.2
At opening establishments	3,878	4,091	3,537	3,324	4,221	1.1	1.2	1.0	1.0	1.2
Gross job losses	21,233	20,656	21,953	20,797	20,129	6.1	5.9	6.3	6.0	5.7
At contracting establishments	18,009	17,267	18,791	17,595	16,837	5.2	4.9	5.4	5.1	4.8
At closing establishments	3,224	3,389	3,162	3,202	3,292	0.9	1.0	0.9	0.9	0.9
Net employment change (2)	-189	1,553	-83	-945	2,255	-0.1	0.5	0.0	-0.3	0.7
Construction
Gross job gains	2,722	3,151	2,707	2,414	3,116	12.0	13.8	12.0	11.1	13.9
At expanding establishments	2,084	2,242	2,115	1,832	2,290	9.2	9.8	9.4	8.4	10.2
At opening establishments	638	909	592	582	826	2.8	4.0	2.6	2.7	3.7
Gross job losses	3,224	2,847	2,982	2,654	2,406	14.3	12.5	13.3	12.1	10.7
At contracting establishments	2,690	2,217	2,360	2,120	1,911	11.9	9.7	10.5	9.7	8.5
At closing establishments	534	630	622	534	495	2.4	2.8	2.8	2.4	2.2
Net employment change (2)	-502	304	-275	-240	710	-2.3	1.3	-1.3	-1.0	3.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	955	800	1,194	823	1,105	4.6	3.8	5.7	4.0	5.3
At expanding establishments	814	711	938	727	892	3.9	3.4	4.5	3.5	4.3
At opening establishments	141	89	256	96	213	0.7	0.4	1.2	0.5	1.0
Gross job losses	943	890	1,086	1,048	971	4.5	4.3	5.2	5.0	4.6
At contracting establishments	755	794	920	941	802	3.6	3.8	4.4	4.5	3.8
At closing establishments	188	96	166	107	169	0.9	0.5	0.8	0.5	0.8
Net employment change (2)	12	-90	108	-225	134	0.1	-0.5	0.5	-1.0	0.7
Retail trade
Gross job gains	2,934	2,781	2,823	2,751	3,095	5.5	5.2	5.3	5.2	5.9
At expanding establishments	2,620	2,535	2,523	2,327	2,579	4.9	4.7	4.7	4.4	4.9
At opening establishments	314	246	300	424	516	0.6	0.5	0.6	0.8	1.0
Gross job losses	3,153	2,857	3,110	3,180	3,010	5.8	5.4	5.8	6.1	5.7
At contracting establishments	2,860	2,607	2,765	2,675	2,687	5.3	4.9	5.2	5.1	5.1
At closing establishments	293	250	345	505	323	0.5	0.5	0.6	1.0	0.6
Net employment change (2)	-219	-76	-287	-429	85	-0.3	-0.2	-0.5	-0.9	0.2
Financial activities
Gross job gains	996	1,083	1,165	1,040	1,084	3.4	3.7	4.1	3.6	3.7
At expanding establishments	766	869	972	889	878	2.6	3.0	3.4	3.1	3.0
At opening establishments	230	214	193	151	206	0.8	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.7
Gross job losses	1,168	1,198	970	1,078	1,165	4.0	4.1	3.4	3.7	4.0
At contracting establishments	901	962	779	850	950	3.1	3.3	2.7	2.9	3.3
At closing establishments	267	236	191	228	215	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.8	0.7
Net employment change (2)	-172	-115	195	-38	-81	-0.6	-0.4	0.7	-0.1	-0.3
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	2,521	2,299	2,430	2,245	2,545	8.0	7.3	7.8	7.2	8.1
At expanding establishments	1,964	1,804	1,973	1,568	1,863	6.2	5.7	6.3	5.0	5.9
At opening establishments	557	495	457	677	682	1.8	1.6	1.5	2.2	2.2
Gross job losses	2,284	2,444	2,694	2,311	2,449	7.2	7.8	8.6	7.5	7.8
At contracting establishments	1,831	1,920	2,260	1,827	1,893	5.8	6.1	7.2	5.9	6.0
At closing establishments	453	524	434	484	556	1.4	1.7	1.4	1.6	1.8
Net employment change (2)	237	-145	-264	-66	96	0.8	-0.5	-0.8	-0.3	0.3
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	5,150	5,537	4,864	4,545	5,179	11.0	11.7	10.3	9.8	11.1
At expanding establishments	3,874	4,100	3,762	3,854	4,147	8.3	8.7	8.0	8.3	8.9
At opening establishments	1,276	1,437	1,102	691	1,032	2.7	3.0	2.3	1.5	2.2
Gross job losses	4,994	4,693	5,954	4,750	4,705	10.6	9.9	12.7	10.3	10.1
At contracting establishments	4,047	3,752	5,160	4,106	3,777	8.6	7.9	11.0	8.9	8.1
At closing establishments	947	941	794	644	928	2.0	2.0	1.7	1.4	2.0
Net employment change (2)	156	844	-1,090	-205	474	0.4	1.8	-2.4	-0.5	1.0
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	658	786	944	774	757	6.2	7.3	8.6	7.1	6.9
At expanding establishments	540	690	792	568	590	5.1	6.4	7.2	5.2	5.4
At opening establishments	118	96	152	206	167	1.1	0.9	1.4	1.9	1.5
Gross job losses	740	692	588	1,023	772	7.0	6.5	5.3	9.3	7.1
At contracting establishments	646	575	476	892	664	6.1	5.4	4.3	8.1	6.1
At closing establishments	94	117	112	131	108	0.9	1.1	1.0	1.2	1.0
Net employment change (2)	-82	94	356	-249	-15	-0.8	0.8	3.3	-2.2	-0.2
Footnotes: (1) Includes unclassified sector not shown separately. (2) The net employment change is the difference between total gross job gains and total gross job losses. See the Technical Note for further information. (3) Except public administration.