Like job flows, the net jobs from continuing firms (firms that existed before and survived the period of analysis) overwhelm new and closing firms’ employment impact. Quarterly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Business Employment Dynamics (BED) show that continuing establishments accounted for 69 percent of the net new jobs from 1993 to mid-2008, and the other 31 percent reflected net new jobs from establishment births minus those lost in deaths (Figure 3). Other data sources ascribe an even greater impact to them: using annual data, SUSB shows continuing firms accounting for 90 percent of the net.
