From January 2024 to March 2024, gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments in Connecticut was 82,391, a 464 job increase from the previous quarter. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments was 75,630, a decrease of 7,549 from the previous quarter.

During the first quarter of 2024, the difference between gross job gains and gross job losses yielded a net employment increase of 6,761jobs in the private sector. This net increase follows a 1,252 net decrease during the fourth quarter of 2023.

Net employment change reached a low of -203,996 during the second quarter of 2020. The combined net change for the fifteen quarters of subsequent data through the first quarter of 2023 is 194,542 jobs.

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 includes 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 annual gross job gains and annual gross job losses at the firm level by employer size class.

Gross job gains at expanding establishments totaled 65,871 in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 1,466 from the previous quarter.

Opening establishments accounted for 16,520 jobs gained in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 1,002 jobs from the previous quarter.

Contracting establishments lost 60,509 jobs in the first quarter of 2024, a decrease of 3,467 from the prior quarter.

In the first quarter of 2024, closing establishments lost 15,121 jobs, a decrease of 4,082 from the previous quarter. Chart 3 shows the relationship between opening and closing-derived job change. Beginning in 2019, opening and closing-derived job change was above 2011-18 levels. During 2020Q2, the impact of the recession is illustrated by the large uptick in closing job losses and the large uptick in openings the following quarter. In the first quarter of 2024, employment change at openings and closings resulted in a 1,399 net employment increase during the first quarter of 2024. This follows a 1,681 net decrease during the fourth quarter of 2023.

In the first quarter of 2024, there were 3,662 establishment births (a subset of the openings data). These new establishments accounted for 9,104 jobs, 1,350 less than the previous quarter.

Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through the second quarter of 2023, where 8,571 jobs were lost at 3,194 establishment deaths. In the prior quarter, 8,125 jobs were lost at 3,142 establishment deaths.

The net change of establishment births and deaths went consistently negative during the Great Recession in Connecticut from the first quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2010. During those 9 quarters of net decline, Connecticut averaged a net decrease of 640 establishments per quarter, with the largest net establishment decline occurring at the end of the recession, down 1,784 in the first quarter of 2010. From 2010Q2-2018Q4, it ranged between -354 and +903 quarter-to-quarter change.

During the first half of 2019, net change fell by 1,956 establishments in the first quarter and 564 in the second. It recovered to a 76 establishment increase in the third quarter and fell by 142 in the fourth quarter of 2019. During the first quarter of 2020, net establishment births and deaths was up 4,088 and fell 1,589 during the second quarter of 2020. After the 2020 recession, net establishment change averaged a gain of 1,185 per quarter from the third quarter of 2020 through the second quarter of 2023. During the second quarter of 2023 (the most recent quarter available), net gains was 818 jobs.

During the first quarter of 2024, gross job gains exceeded gross losses gains in 7 of 10 industries. The largest net increases occurred in Education & Health Services (+3,794) and Leisure & Hospitality (+1,706). The largest net decreasing industries were Transportation & Warehousing (-2,247 jobs) and Financial Activities (-527 jobs).

Additional Information on Business Employment Dynamics, including data for the United States, 50 states, and US territories can be found at: http://www.bls.gov/bdm/.