Net Job-Change Rate
Jobs gained minus jobs lost at employers in a quarter, relative to the county's stable employment.
The net effect of employers expanding and contracting in a county over a single quarter, relative to the size of its employment base.
The Census Bureau builds this from two counts. Firm job gains are the "estimated number of jobs gained at firms throughout the quarter," measuring "total employment increase at firms that grew over the course of the quarter," and firm job loss the matching count "at firms that shrank over the course of the quarter." The net change is defined as the "difference between firm job gain and firm job loss" (QWI 101). The count is taken at the employer, so it reflects establishments growing, shrinking, opening, and closing.
The base for the rate is full-quarter employment, which the Bureau defines as an "estimate of stable jobs, i.e., the number of jobs that are held on both the first and last day of the quarter with the same employer." Dividing by that base makes counties of very different sizes comparable.
This differs from hiring. Hiring counts people arriving; this counts positions net of the ones that disappeared. A county with heavy hiring and heavy separation can have a net job change near zero.
Metrics in this family#
Net job-change rate
levelJobs gained minus jobs lost at employers in the most recent available quarter, as a share of stable employment in that quarter.
Considerations#
The series is not seasonally adjusted, and this figure covers one quarter rather than a full year, so it carries the seasonal pattern of the industries present in a county. It is also the most volatile measure in this group: a single large employer opening or closing can move a small county's rate substantially.
This is a county measure. Every tract in a county shows the same figure. See how we combine geographies.
Coverage follows jobs covered by state unemployment insurance. The Bureau notes that "Federal employment has not been integrated into the regular releases of the QWI" and that uncovered work includes "some agricultural jobs, railroad employment, self-employment, and other exceptions that vary from state to state." Jobs are attributed to the county where the work is located, not where workers live.
Measures built on whole-quarter employment are published later than the rest, so this figure sits a quarter or more behind the Bureau's most recent release, and each release revises earlier quarters.
Published cells carry statistical noise for disclosure protection, and cells that fail publication standards are withheld rather than reported as zero. Counties whose reporting has fallen well behind the rest of the country show no value.
References#
- 1QWI 101https://lehd.ces.census.gov/doc/QWI_101.pdf