Business Employment Dynamics - Third Quarter 2023

By LMI Staff

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released third quarter 2023 data on Business Employment Dynamics. These data track the gross gains and gross losses (seasonally adjusted) in jobs at private sector establishments. Gains can be due to either establishment openings or expansions, and, in the inverse, losses can be due to either closures or contractions. Calculating the difference between the gross gains and gross losses provides the net change in private sector employment for a given quarter. Read on to discover South Carolina’s impressive results.

For general details on this data series, readers can visit here. Selected highlights and analysis are below.

National Data

Gross job gains in the U.S. (including D.C., Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands) were 7.6 million in the third quarter of 2023, down from 8.1 million in the prior quarter. Of the 7.6 million jobs, 1.6 million were due to establishment openings and 6.0 million were due to expansions.

Gross job losses for the period totaled 7.8 million, roughly the same as in the prior quarter. Of the 7.8 million jobs, 1.6 million were due to establishment closings (effectively neutralizing the gains from openings) and 6.2 million were due to contractions.

Accounting for all these figures together, the net employment change for the quarter was a loss of just under 200,000 jobs.

Data for Top Performing States

Despite the losses nationwide, South Carolina on its own fared quite well, gaining almost 127,000 jobs over the period and losing fewer than 108,000. This gave the state an extraordinary position compared to other states and territories: it had the third highest net gain in jobs for the quarter and the second highest margin of gain (the gross gain as a proportion of the gross loss). South Carolina was surpassed in net gain only by Florida and Arizona, both of which it exceeded for margin of gain. Only Nevada came in ahead of South Carolina for margin of gain, by 0.3 percentage points.

Note that state-level disaggregation into openings/expansions and closures/contractions is not available.

See the tables below for the top five states by net job gains and by margin of gain.

Conclusion

South Carolina is showing strong economic growth, not only outperforming the national average for net job gains but also the vast majority of individual states. Amidst dynamic labor market changes, the Palmetto State has a clear upward trajectory.