From December 2008 to March 2009 the number of job losses from closing and contracting establishments remained essentially unchanged at 8.5 million. The number of job gains from opening and expanding private sector establishments fell from 6.7 million to 5.7 million, the lowest level since the series began in 1992, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

Gross job losses exceeded gross job gains in all but two industry sectors: utilities and education and health services.

From the Business Employment Dynamics report for Q1 2009 this morning. For Minnesota there were 110,150 jobs gains and 163,810 jobs lost in the first quarter of 2009. As one of the states with higher than average employment in manufacturing, it's worth noting that the manufacturing sector nationwide had 294,000 jobs gained and 990,000 jobs lost in Q1.

The data for Q1 is of course old, but it does highlight something we've said for awhile -- the recession picked up great speed in late 2008 and early 2009, and job shedding was a big part of this.

In related news, the state reported unemployment of 7.6% in October, up from 7.4% in September and from 5.6% a year ago. September's number represented a sharp drop from levels in the summer, so I would have guessed a little bit of that to be a blip that got reversed. This week's initial claims for unemployment insurance hung above 500,000 this week, with an increase of 2,149 in initial claims in Minnesota.

Labels: economics