June 2013 MONTHLY LABOR U.S. Department of Labor U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics High-employment- growth firms: defining and counting them also in this issue: Linking firms with establishments in BLS microdata U.S. Department of Labor Schedule of Economic News Releases, July 2013 Seth D. Harris, Acting Secretary Date Time Release U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday, 10:00 AM Metropolitan Area Employment and Erica L. Groshen, Commissioner July 02, 2013 Unemployment for May 2013 Friday, 8:30 AM Employment Situation for June 2013 The Monthly Labor Review is published monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. The July 05, 2013 Review welcomes articles on employment and unemployment, Tuesday, 10:00 AM Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey for compensation and working conditions, the labor force, July 09, 2013 May 2013 labor-management relations, productivity and technology, occupational safety and health, demographic trends, and other Thursday, 8:30 AM U.S. Import and Export Price Indexes for June economic developments. July 11, 2013 2013 Friday, 8:30 AM Producer Price Index for June 2013 The Review’s audience includes economists, statisticians, labor relations practitioners (lawyers, arbitrators, etc.), sociologists, July 12, 2013 and other professionals concerned with labor-related issues. Tuesday, 8:30 AM Consumer Price Index for June 2013 Because the Review presents topics in labor economics in July 16, 2013 less forbidding formats than some social science journals, its audience also includes laypersons who are interested in Tuesday, 8:30 AM Real Earnings for June 2013 the topics, but are not professionally trained economists, July 16, 2013 statisticians, and so forth. Thursday, 10:00 AM Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary In writing articles for the Review, authors should aim at the July 18, 2013 Workers for Second Quarter 2013 generalists in the audience on the assumption that the specialist Friday, 10:00 AM Regional and State Employment and will understand. Authors should use the simplest exposition of the subject consonant with accuracy and adherence to July 19, 2013 Unemployment for June 2013 scientific methods of data collection, analysis, and drawings Tuesday, 10:00 AM Metropolitan Area Employment and of conclusions. 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The calendar will not update automatically in those applications. convenience and do not constitute an endorsement. The BLS calendar contains publication dates for most news releases scheduled Information is available to sensory impaired individuals upon to be issued by the BLS national office in upcoming months. It is updated request: as needed with additional news releases, usually at least a week before their Voice phone: (202) 691–5200 scheduled publication date. Federal Relay Service: 1–800–877–8339 (toll free). Cover design by Keith Tapscott MONTHLY LABOR REVIEW Volume 136, Number 6 June 2013 High-employment-growth firms: defining and counting them 3 Data from the Business Employment Dynamics program are used to provide estimates of the number of high-growth firms and their contribution to employment growth in the U.S. economy Richard L. Clayton, Akbar Sadeghi, James R. Spletzer, and David M. Talan Linking firms with establishments in BLS microdata 14 Efforts to link establishment data into firms continue, but many challenges remain Elizabeth Weber Handwerker and Lowell G. Mason Departments Labor month in review 2 Précis 23 Current labor statistics 24 Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor Managing Editor Editors Book Review Editor Design and Layout Contributors Michael D. Levi Emily L. Liddel Terry L. Schau Brian I. Baker James C. Titkemeyer Edith W. Peters Brian I. Baker Charlotte M. Irby Yavor Ivanchev Carol Boyd Leon Labor Month In Review The June Review getting things ready for a grand re- Commissioner’s Corner launch of the Monthly Labor Review. Next month we will be premiering In a recent post on the Commission- At the Bureau, most of the data col- BLS a new look for the MLR. For more er’s Corner, Commissioner Eri- lected from businesses is done so at ca L. Groshen highlights a C-SPAN the establishment or worksite level information and to view mockups of our new look, please visit http:// appearance of John Wohlford, BLS of detail. Oftentimes, aggregating branch chief for the Job Openings these data to the firm (or company) www.bls.gov/bls/mlr_prototype. htm. Under the new design of the and Labor Turnover Survey. Appear- level can give further insight into the ing on the “America by the Numbers” economy. In the first article, “High- MLR, we will be discontinuing the Labor Month in Review department. segment, Mr. Wohlford spoke about employment-growth firms: defin- what drives employment growth in ing and counting them,” Richard Labor force characteristics of the United States and focused in par- L. Clayton, Akbar Sadeghi, James people with disabilities ticular on the latest measures of hires, R. Spletzer, and David M. Talan job openings, and separations. Watch use Business Employment Dynam- The unemployment rate among peo- the video here: http://www.c-span ics data to identify firms that rapidly ple with disabilities was 13.4 percent video.org/program/Woh. expand their payrolls. The authors in 2012, compared with 7.9 percent Mr. Wohlford’s June 21st appear- find that these high-growth firms are among people who do not have a dis- ance on C-SPAN isn’t the Bureau’s heavily concentrated among smaller ability, according to Current Popula- first foray into the television broad- CPS firms, but large firms still add a sub- tion Survey ( ) figures released this cast world. In fact, BLS staff have stantial portion to net job growth. month by BLS. The data indicate that appeared on the show several times In our second article, Elizabeth the share of adults with disabilities in the last year. Additional informa- Weber Handwerker and Lowell G. who were employed last year was 17.8 tion can be found online at http:// Mason discuss the challenges of link- percent, compared with 63.9 percent www.c-spanvideo.org/search/. ing establishment-based information of adults without disabilities. The to firm-based measures in “Linking data also indicate that workers with firms with establishments in BLS mi- a disability were much more likely to crodata.” Handwerker and Mason usually work part time (33.1 percent) Communications regarding the review the complex relationship be- Monthly Labor Review may be compared with those with no dis- sent to: tween firms and their establishments ability (18.9 percent). The news re- Editor-in-Chief and discuss the efforts that have been lease regarding these data is available U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics undertaken to link these data. online at http://www.bls.gov/news. Washington, DC 20212 Readers may notice that the June release/archives/disabl_06122013. Email: [email protected] issue is a bit shorter than most issues. htm. Additional information is avail- Telephone: (202) 691-5900 This is because the Review staff is able at http://www.bls.gov/cps. 2 Monthly Labor Review • June 2013 Measuring Growth Firms High-employment-growth firms: defining and counting them Many high-growth firms are the youngest and the smallest firms, but much of the job creation attributable to high-growth firms comes from older firms Richard L. Clayton, Akbar Sadeghi, James R. Spletzer, mployment growth is a key indicator the outcomes of new businesses are diverse. and David M. Talan of labor market performance. Par- Some new businesses grow phenomenally, ticularly following recessions, poli- but 20 percent of newly created establish- Ecymakers look for the appropriate levers to ments don’t survive their first year in busi- pull that will accelerate employment growth. ness, 32 percent don’t survive their first 2 For several decades, it has been thought that years, and 50 percent don’t survive their first small businesses are the fountain of job 5 years.4 growth.