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Examining Labor Market Fluctuations Using the Business Employment Dynamics Time Series

Keywords: job creation, job gains, job loss, recession, employment dynamics, labor statistics

The turbulent flow that is the United States labor market is most favorably represented by the Business Employment Dynamics (BED) time series produced quarterly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Even in recessions job creation occurs, albeit at lesser levels than job destruction. This paper examines the movements of job creation and destruction heading into the previous two recessions. These measures of job creation and destruction provide information on the number jobs gained or lost over the quarter at establishments that have opened, closed, expanded, or contracted. These components are aggregated to produce measures of gross job gains and gross job losses that provide a more thorough understanding of the employment decisions of the millions of business establishments in the U.S. economy.