U.S. Establishment Births (Annual)

## What this measures

The number of U.S. establishments that opened (had employees in March of the year, none a year earlier). The BDS follows every employer establishment (a single physical location with paid employees) in the Census Bureau's business register. BDS year t runs from March of t−1 to March of t, so each point is dated March 12 of its year (the payroll reference week). Annual since 1978.

## Why it matters

Births and deaths of workplaces are how the economy reallocates jobs. Birth rates have trended down since the late 1970s, a decline economists link to slower productivity growth; the rates show it without the effect of a growing economy.

## How to read it

Compare births with deaths in the same year; their difference (business.us.bds.estab_net) is the change in the number of establishments.

## What it does not say

Employer locations only: no businesses without employees. It counts locations, so a chain opening a store is a birth. The newest year arrives about two years after the fact. Not comparable with Canada's monthly openings and closures.

## Source

U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), national time series (www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds). Public domain.