How are Business Employment Dynamics data calculated?
The Business Employment Dynamics (BDM) data are compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from the administrative records of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), or ES-202, program. This program is a quarterly census of all establishments under State unemployment insurance programs, representing about 98 percent of employment on nonfarm payrolls. The administrative records are linked across quarters to provide a longitudinal history for each establishment. The linkage process allows the tracking of net employment changes at the establishment level, which in turn allows the computation of gross jobs gained at opening and expanding establishments and gross jobs lost at closing and contracting establishments.
