- 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- Closings are businesses that reported last quarter but are no longer active.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).
