753,000 Job Gains in 3rd Quarter 2011 Largest Since 2006

From June to September 2011 gross job gains from opening and expanding
private sector establishments were 7.1 million, an increase of 166,000
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 6.3 million, a decrease
of 9,000 jobs from the previous quarter.

The difference between the number of gross job gains and gross job
losses yielded a net employment change of 753,000 jobs in the private
sector during the third quarter of 2011. This is the largest net job
gain since the first quarter of 2006.

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 units 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
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. The difference between the number of
gross job gains and the number of gross job losses is the net change
in employment.

The BED data series include gross job gains and gross job losses at the
establishment level by industry subsector and 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.

Job gains at expanding establishments totaled 5.7 million in third
quarter 2011, an increase from the previous quarter’s gain of 5.6
million jobs.

Opening establishments accounted for 1.3 million jobs gained in third
quarter 2011, an increase of 48,000 jobs from the previous quarter.

Contracting establishments lost 5.2 million jobs in the third quarter
of 2011. This was an increase from the prior quarter when contracting
establishments lost 5.1 million jobs.

In the third quarter of 2011, closing establishments lost 1.1 million
jobs. This was 86,000 fewer jobs lost at closing establishments
than in the previous quarter.

Gross job gains represented 6.5 percent of private sector employment in
third quarter 2011, while gross job losses represented 5.9 percent of
private sector employment.

In third quarter 2011, the number of establishment births (a subset of
the openings data) rose by
4,000 to 191,000. These new establishments accounted for 763,000 jobs,
an increase of 36,000 from the previous quarter.

Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are
available through fourth quarter 2010, when 691,000 jobs were lost at
186,000 establishments. These figures represent a decrease from the
prior quarter when 695,000 jobs were lost at 189,000
establishments.

From June to September 2011, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses
in all industry sectors except utilities. The manufacturing industry
experienced the sixth consecutive quarter of positive net employment
change. This comes after 16 straight quarters of net losses for
this sector. Professional and business services, which include
temporary help services, accounted for 27 percent of the total net job
growth in the third quarter of 2011. Although the retail trade sector
showed positive net employment growth in third quarter, the number of
gross jobs lost from contracting establishments increased by 106,000
from the prior quarter to 754,000.

Gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in each of the three aggregate
firm size classes in the third quarter of 2011. Firms with 250 or more
employees experienced the largest increase in gross job gains, and this
size class comprised 52 percent of the total net change in employment
for the quarter.

In the third quarter of 2011, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses
in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Texas had the largest net
employment gain of 98,278 jobs, followed by California with 83,825 jobs.
Eleven states had both a rate of gross job gains of at least 6.5 percent
(the U.S. average) and a rate of gross job losses that was the same or
below the national average of 5.9 percent.