BLS - BUSINESS EMPLOYMENT DYNAMICS – FIRST QUARTER 2025
BLS - Press Release
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
From December 2024 to March 2025, gross job gains from opening and expanding private-sector establishments were 7.4 million, a decrease of 354,000 jobs from the previous quarter, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private-sector establishments were 7.2 million, a decrease of 258,000 jobs from the previous quarter. (See tables A and 1.)
The change in the number of jobs over time is the net result of increases and decreases in employment that occur at all private businesses in the economy. Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics track these changes in employment at private-sector 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 Technical Note.) The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses by industry subsector for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, as well as gross job gains and gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class.
Gross Job Gains
In the first quarter of 2025, gross job gains represented 5.6 percent of private-sector employment. Gross job gains are the sum of increases in employment due to expansions at existing establishments and the addition of new jobs at opening establishments. Gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 5.9 million jobs in the first quarter of 2025. Opening establishments accounted for 1.6 million of the jobs gained in the first quarter of 2025. (See tables A, 1, 2, and 3.)
Gross Job Losses
In the first quarter of 2025, gross job losses represented 5.4 percent of private-sector employment. Gross job losses are the result of contractions in employment at existing establishments and the loss of jobs at closing establishments. Contracting establishments lost 5.9 million jobs in the first quarter of 2025. In the first quarter of 2025, closing establishments lost 1.4 million jobs. (See tables A, 1, 2, and 3.)
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