From July 2023 to September 2023, gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments in Connecticut was 82,905, a 9,699 job decrease from the previous quarter. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments was 89,425, an increase of 6,744 from the previous quarter.

During the third quarter of 2023, the difference between gross job gains and gross job losses yielded a net employment decrease of 6,520 jobs in the private sector. This net decrease follows a 8,823 net increase during the second quarter of 2023.

Net employment change reached a low of -203,916 during the second quarter of 2020. The combined net change for the thirteen quarters of subsequent data through the first quarter of 2023 is 185,811 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 64,731 in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of 7,795 from the previous quarter.

Opening establishments accounted for 18,174 jobs gained in the third quarter of 2023, a decrease of 1,904 jobs from the previous quarter.

Contracting establishments lost 69,242 jobs in the third quarter of 2023, an increase of 2,262 from the prior quarter.

In the third quarter of 2023, closing establishments lost 20,183 jobs, an increase of 4,482 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 third quarter of 2023, employment change at openings and closings resulted in a 2,009 net employment decrease during the third quarter of 2023. This follows a 4,377 net increase during the second quarter of 2023.

In the third quarter of 2023, there were 3,843 establishment births (a subset of the openings data). These new establishments accounted for 10,470 jobs, 1,084 less than the previous quarter.

Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through the fourth quarter of 2022, where 10,000 jobs were lost at 667 establishment deaths. In the prior quarter, 10,644 jobs were lost at 790 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 1,945 establishments in the first quarter and 544 in the second. It recovered to a 57 establishment increase in the third quarter and fell by 153 in the fourth quarter of 2019. During the first quarter of 2020, net establishment births and deaths was up 4,111 and fell 1,565 during the second quarter of 2020. After the 2020 recession, net establishment change averaged a gain of 1,213 per quarter from the third quarter of 2020 through the fourth quarter of 2022. During the fourth quarter of 2022 (the most recent quarter available), net gains were 667.

During the third quarter of 2023, gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in 6 of 10 industries. The largest net decreases occurred in Leisure & Hospitality (-4,802) and Professional & Business Services (-1,848 jobs). The largest net increasing industries were Transportation & Warehousing (+1,916 jobs) and Education & Health Services (+1,224 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/.