From December 2017 to March 2018, gross job gains in North Carolina totaled 227,451, while gross job losses numbered 190,130, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 37,321. During the previous quarter, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 27,847. (See chart 1.)

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. 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.)

With few exceptions, North Carolina’s gross job gains have remained above 200,000 each quarter since the first quarter of 2010. North Carolina’s gross job losses numbered 190,130 in the first quarter of 2018, below the recent peak of 221,870 gross job losses in the second quarter of 2017. (See chart 1.)

North Carolina’s rate of gross job gains as a percent of private sector employment was 6.2 percent in the first quarter of 2018; nationally gross job gains accounted for 6.0 percent of private sector employment. (See chart 2.) Gross job losses represented 5.2 percent of private sector employment in North Carolina, while nationally gross job losses accounted for 5.4 percent of private sector employment in the first quarter of 2018.

During the first quarter of 2018, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 10 of the 11 industry sectors in North Carolina. Leisure and hospitality added more than 44,900 jobs in opening and expanding establishments, and lost approximately 36,400 jobs in closing and contracting establishments. The resulting net gain of 8,527 jobs was the largest of any North Carolina sector in the first quarter of 2018. In education and health services, almost 27,400 jobs were added in opening and expanding establishments, while about 20,700 jobs were lost in closing and contracting establishments, resulting in a net gain of 6,672 jobs. Professional and business service added nearly 46,400 jobs in opening and expanding establishments and lost approximately 41,000 jobs in closing and contracting establishments, resulting in a net gain of 5,418 jobs. Within the construction and retail trade sectors, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by 4,535 and 4,088, respectively. Among the five other sectors with net employment gains, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses by less than 2,900. (See table 1.)  

Transportation and warehousing was the only industry sector in North Carolina with gross job losses exceeding gross job gains in the first quarter of 2018. With approximately 6,600 gross jobs gains in opening and expanding establishments, and nearly 8,100 jobs losses in closing and contracting establishments, transportation and warehousing had a net loss of 1,498 jobs. 

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 for Second Quarter 2018 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 30, 2019.

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). The BED data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from existing QCEW records. Most employers in the U.S. are required to file quarterly reports on the employment and wages of workers covered by unemployment insurance (UI) laws, and to pay quarterly UI taxes. The QCEW is based largely on quarterly UI reports which are sent by businesses to the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). These UI reports are supplemented by two additional BLS data collections to render administrative data into economic statistics. Together these data comprise the QCEW and form the basis of the Bureau’s establishment universe sampling frame.

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, North Carolina, 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)
	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept. 2017	Dec. 2017	Mar. 2018	Mar. 2017	June 2017	Sept. 2017	Dec. 2017	Mar. 2018
Total private (1)
Gross job gains	229,283	228,081	217,327	228,877	227,451	6.4	6.3	6.0	6.3	6.2
At expanding establishments	186,181	183,441	176,915	189,424	181,327	5.2	5.1	4.9	5.2	4.9
At opening establishments	43,102	44,640	40,412	39,453	46,124	1.2	1.2	1.1	1.1	1.3
Gross job losses	203,934	221,870	218,183	201,030	190,130	5.7	6.2	6.0	5.5	5.2
At contracting establishments	169,086	176,468	181,480	160,221	162,326	4.7	4.9	5.0	4.4	4.4
At closing establishments	34,848	45,402	36,703	40,809	27,804	1.0	1.3	1.0	1.1	0.8
Net employment change (2)	25,349	6,211	-856	27,847	37,321	0.7	0.1	0.0	0.8	1.0
Construction
Gross job gains	17,534	17,545	16,002	18,229	18,289	8.5	8.4	7.6	8.7	8.5
At expanding establishments	13,772	13,766	12,393	14,494	14,015	6.7	6.6	5.9	6.9	6.5
At opening establishments	3,762	3,779	3,609	3,735	4,274	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.8	2.0
Gross job losses	15,237	16,255	14,781	14,171	13,754	7.4	7.8	7.1	6.7	6.3
At contracting establishments	11,595	12,340	11,636	10,974	10,876	5.6	5.9	5.6	5.2	5.0
At closing establishments	3,642	3,915	3,145	3,197	2,878	1.8	1.9	1.5	1.5	1.3
Net employment change (2)	2,297	1,290	1,221	4,058	4,535	1.1	0.6	0.5	2.0	2.2
Manufacturing
Gross job gains	14,102	16,167	13,716	14,923	14,516	3.1	3.5	2.9	3.2	3.0
At expanding establishments	12,891	14,839	12,549	13,898	13,428	2.8	3.2	2.7	3.0	2.8
At opening establishments	1,211	1,328	1,167	1,025	1,088	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2
Gross job losses	13,968	14,089	14,342	13,478	13,379	2.9	3.0	3.0	2.9	2.8
At contracting establishments	12,808	12,196	12,859	11,128	12,489	2.7	2.6	2.7	2.4	2.6
At closing establishments	1,160	1,893	1,483	2,350	890	0.2	0.4	0.3	0.5	0.2
Net employment change (2)	134	2,078	-626	1,445	1,137	0.2	0.5	-0.1	0.3	0.2
Wholesale trade
Gross job gains	8,652	9,972	8,395	9,313	8,878	4.7	5.4	4.6	5.0	4.9
At expanding establishments	6,962	7,931	6,996	7,649	6,950	3.8	4.3	3.8	4.1	3.8
At opening establishments	1,690	2,041	1,399	1,664	1,928	0.9	1.1	0.8	0.9	1.1
Gross job losses	7,690	8,215	8,129	7,614	7,373	4.2	4.5	4.4	4.1	4.0
At contracting establishments	5,909	5,837	6,541	5,820	5,869	3.2	3.2	3.5	3.1	3.2
At closing establishments	1,781	2,378	1,588	1,794	1,504	1.0	1.3	0.9	1.0	0.8
Net employment change (2)	962	1,757	266	1,699	1,505	0.5	0.9	0.2	0.9	0.9
Retail trade
Gross job gains	32,328	29,862	29,170	29,017	30,950	6.5	6.0	5.8	5.9	6.2
At expanding establishments	26,415	25,321	24,694	25,256	26,321	5.3	5.1	4.9	5.1	5.3
At opening establishments	5,913	4,541	4,476	3,761	4,629	1.2	0.9	0.9	0.8	0.9
Gross job losses	29,145	31,279	30,232	28,352	26,862	5.8	6.3	6.1	5.7	5.4
At contracting establishments	25,576	26,318	26,467	24,392	24,063	5.1	5.3	5.3	4.9	4.8
At closing establishments	3,569	4,961	3,765	3,960	2,799	0.7	1.0	0.8	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	3,183	-1,417	-1,062	665	4,088	0.7	-0.3	-0.3	0.2	0.8
Transportation and warehousing
Gross job gains	6,425	7,115	7,580	9,424	6,586	5.0	5.6	6.0	7.2	5.0
At expanding establishments	5,535	6,243	6,587	8,410	5,264	4.3	4.9	5.2	6.4	4.0
At opening establishments	890	872	993	1,014	1,322	0.7	0.7	0.8	0.8	1.0
Gross job losses	9,073	6,326	5,698	4,996	8,084	7.0	5.0	4.5	3.8	6.1
At contracting establishments	8,378	4,784	4,702	3,943	7,338	6.5	3.8	3.7	3.0	5.5
At closing establishments	695	1,542	996	1,053	746	0.5	1.2	0.8	0.8	0.6
Net employment change (2)	-2,648	789	1,882	4,428	-1,498	-2.0	0.6	1.5	3.4	-1.1
Information
Gross job gains	3,342	3,722	3,979	4,209	4,051	4.2	4.7	5.0	5.4	5.1
At expanding establishments	2,684	2,982	3,163	3,516	3,439	3.4	3.8	4.0	4.5	4.3
At opening establishments	658	740	816	693	612	0.8	0.9	1.0	0.9	0.8
Gross job losses	3,054	4,176	4,011	4,265	2,930	3.9	5.3	5.1	5.5	3.7
At contracting establishments	2,353	3,373	3,201	3,114	2,491	3.0	4.3	4.1	4.0	3.1
At closing establishments	701	803	810	1,151	439	0.9	1.0	1.0	1.5	0.6
Net employment change (2)	288	-454	-32	-56	1,121	0.3	-0.6	-0.1	-0.1	1.4
Financial activities
Gross job gains	12,723	12,451	12,241	12,531	11,778	5.7	5.5	5.4	5.5	5.1
At expanding establishments	10,250	9,760	9,289	9,301	9,053	4.6	4.3	4.1	4.1	3.9
At opening establishments	2,473	2,691	2,952	3,230	2,725	1.1	1.2	1.3	1.4	1.2
Gross job losses	10,834	11,503	11,108	10,970	8,884	4.9	5.1	4.9	4.8	3.8
At contracting establishments	8,222	8,281	8,361	8,145	6,541	3.7	3.7	3.7	3.6	2.8
At closing establishments	2,612	3,222	2,747	2,825	2,343	1.2	1.4	1.2	1.2	1.0
Net employment change (2)	1,889	948	1,133	1,561	2,894	0.8	0.4	0.5	0.7	1.3
Professional and business services
Gross job gains	46,883	49,746	43,612	47,989	46,395	7.7	8.1	7.1	7.8	7.4
At expanding establishments	38,278	38,937	35,187	40,056	36,350	6.3	6.3	5.7	6.5	5.8
At opening establishments	8,605	10,809	8,425	7,933	10,045	1.4	1.8	1.4	1.3	1.6
Gross job losses	40,380	47,026	46,188	42,560	40,977	6.6	7.6	7.5	6.8	6.5
At contracting establishments	32,454	36,863	38,036	33,010	34,768	5.3	6.0	6.2	5.3	5.5
At closing establishments	7,926	10,163	8,152	9,550	6,209	1.3	1.6	1.3	1.5	1.0
Net employment change (2)	6,503	2,720	-2,576	5,429	5,418	1.1	0.5	-0.4	1.0	0.9
Education and health services
Gross job gains	28,725	26,264	26,854	26,626	27,356	5.0	4.6	4.7	4.6	4.7
At expanding establishments	24,847	21,324	23,029	22,375	22,151	4.3	3.7	4.0	3.9	3.8
At opening establishments	3,878	4,940	3,825	4,251	5,205	0.7	0.9	0.7	0.7	0.9
Gross job losses	25,280	24,842	25,352	24,250	20,684	4.4	4.3	4.4	4.2	3.5
At contracting establishments	21,318	20,271	21,143	19,012	18,074	3.7	3.5	3.7	3.3	3.1
At closing establishments	3,962	4,571	4,209	5,238	2,610	0.7	0.8	0.7	0.9	0.4
Net employment change (2)	3,445	1,422	1,502	2,376	6,672	0.6	0.3	0.3	0.4	1.2
Leisure and hospitality
Gross job gains	44,723	43,602	44,315	44,213	44,904	9.1	8.8	9.0	8.9	8.9
At expanding establishments	33,592	33,248	34,059	34,574	33,679	6.8	6.7	6.9	7.0	6.7
At opening establishments	11,131	10,354	10,256	9,639	11,225	2.3	2.1	2.1	1.9	2.2
Gross job losses	38,243	44,494	45,601	39,922	36,377	7.8	9.0	9.2	8.1	7.3
At contracting establishments	31,571	35,936	38,484	32,425	31,040	6.4	7.3	7.8	6.6	6.2
At closing establishments	6,672	8,558	7,117	7,497	5,337	1.4	1.7	1.4	1.5	1.1
Net employment change (2)	6,480	-892	-1,286	4,291	8,527	1.3	-0.2	-0.2	0.8	1.6
Other services (3)
Gross job gains	8,262	8,173	8,089	8,497	8,451	8.4	8.3	8.2	8.5	8.3
At expanding establishments	6,115	6,223	6,092	6,658	6,292	6.2	6.3	6.2	6.7	6.2
At opening establishments	2,147	1,950	1,997	1,839	2,159	2.2	2.0	2.0	1.8	2.1
Gross job losses	7,398	7,943	7,990	7,427	7,648	7.5	8.0	8.1	7.5	7.6
At contracting establishments	5,880	5,757	6,132	5,632	5,926	6.0	5.8	6.2	5.7	5.9
At closing establishments	1,518	2,186	1,858	1,795	1,722	1.5	2.2	1.9	1.8	1.7
Net employment change (2)	864	230	99	1,070	803	0.9	0.3	0.1	1.0	0.7
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.