- Gross job gains are the total people hired in a quarter (not subtracting losses). U.S. generally has around 7.6 million total gains in a given quarter.
- Expansions are businesses that reported more jobs than last quarter. U.S. generally has around 6.1 million firm expansions in a given quarter.
- Openings are businesses that did not exist in the previous quarter. U.S. generally has around 1.6 million firm openings in a given quarter.
- Gross job losses are the total separations in a quarter (not adding gains). U.S. generally has around 7.4 million total losses in a given quarter.
- Contractions are businesses that reported fewer jobs than last quarter. U.S. generally has around 6.0 million firm contractions in a given quarter.
- Closings are businesses that reported last quarter but are no longer active. U.S. generally has around 1.5 million closings in a given quarter.
We generally think of having both gross job gains and gross job losses high as creative destruction: while not much is moving, there's a lot of churn in the economy, generally very good. We generally think of having both gross job gains and gross job losses low as stagnation or sclerosis: not much is flowing in the economy.
The 1990's and the Great Recession both show prominently in the figure of BED data, depicted graphically below (click to enlarge).
It is amazing how much gross job losses and gains are in parallel. Certainly argues against the "good times raising all boats" hypothesis - that is, if a "positive" or "expansive" environment had generalized effects job losses should be inverse to gains
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