From October 2021 to December 2021, gross job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments in Connecticut was 96,125, an increase of 2,373 jobs from the previous quarter. Over this period, gross job losses from closing and contracting private sector establishments was 75,282, a decrease of 7,189 jobs from the previous quarter.

During the fourth quarter of 2021, the difference between gross job gains and gross job losses yielded a net employment gain of 20,843 jobs in the private sector. This net increase follows a 11,281 net increase during the third quarter of 2021.

Net employment change reached a low of -205,121 during the second quarter of 2020. The combined net change for the six quarters of subsequent data through the fourth quarter of 2021 is 147,825 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 78,213 in the fourth quarter of 2021, an increase of 2,852 from the previous quarter.

Opening establishments accounted for 17,912 jobs gained in the fourth quarter of 2021, a decrease of 479 jobs from the previous quarter.

Contracting establishments lost 59,686 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2021, a decrease of from the prior quarter.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, closing establishments lost 15,596 jobs, a decrease of 1,202 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 fourth quarter of 2021, openings and closings converged to a 1,593 net positive after a second quarter 2021 net positive of 2,316.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, there were 4,398 establishment births (a subset of the openings data). These new establishments accounted for 10,151 jobs, 643 less than the previous quarter.

Data for establishment deaths (a subset of the closings data) are available through the first quarter of 2021, where 6,105 jobs were lost at 2,430 establishment deaths. In the prior quarter, 7,139 jobs were lost at 2,282 establishment deaths. The first quarter of 2021 represents the third full quarter of recovery from the 2020 recession, which lasted from February to April of that year.

The net change of establishment births and deaths went consistently negative during the last recession from the first quarter of 2008 through the first quarter of 2010. During those 9 quarters of recession, 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 1,975 establishments in the first quarter and 533 in the second. It recovered to a 54 establishment increase in the third quarter and fell by 144 in the fourth quarter of 2019. During the first quarter of 2020, net establishment births and deaths was up 4,079 and was down 1,546 during the second quarter of 2020. By the first quarter of 2021(the last quarter of available data), net gains were up 1,326. These net establishment changes are heavily impacted by the 2020 recession as is shown in Chart 4.

During the fourth quarter of 2021, gross job gains exceeded gross job losses in 9 of 10 industries. Large net increases were had in Education & Health Services, Professional & Business Services, and Transportation & Warehousing. Construction was the only net negative industry, with a slight loss of 9 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/.