Business Employment Dynamics

The Business Employment Dynamics statistics track changes in employment at the establishment level, revealing the dynamics underlying net changes in employment. The quarterly data on Business Employment Dynamics are derived from the Covered Employment and Wages Program, also known as the ES-202 program. This program is the quarterly census of all establishments under State unemployment insurance programs, representing about 98 percent of employment on nonfarm payrolls. The data include all establishments subject to the State unemployment insurance (UI) laws and Federal agencies subject to the Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) program. Major exclusions from UI coverage are the self-employed workers, religious organizations, most agricultural workers on small farms, members of the Armed Forces and certain small nonprofit organizations.

The Business Employment Dynamics totals require that establishment data be linked across quarters. This longitudinal aspect of the data allows the tracking of when establishments open, close, and expand or contract their employees. There are four types of job flows: employment gains at opening establishments, employment expansions at existing establishments, employment losses at closing establishments, and employment contractions at existing establishments. Increases in employment at opening and expanding establishments sum to measure job gains. Declines in employment at closing and contracting establishments sum to measure job losses. The more traditional measure of net change in employment is the difference between the number of jobs gained and the number of jobs lost.

Currently, job flow estimates are available at levels and as rates for the private sector. The rates measure gross job gains and losses and their components as a percentage of the average of the previous and current quarter employment. The first release of the Business Employment Dynamics statistics covers the period from September 1992 to December 2002. Estimates are available with and without seasonal adjustments. Seasonal adjustment is run concurrently and models are updated annually.

Special characteristics of the data are footnoted where necessary. Business Employment Dynamics are updated quarterly and will be available about eight months after the end of the reference quarter. Reference quarters end in March, June, September, and December.