From December 2024 to March 2025, private-sector businesses in Kentucky experienced a net employment gain of 6,917 jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Gross job gains from opening and expanding establishments reached 88,175, while gross job losses from closing and contracting establishments totaled 81,258 during this period. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee stated that the difference between gross job gains and losses resulted in the net increase for the first quarter of 2025. In contrast, the previous quarter saw gross job losses exceed gains by 3,285.
Business Employment Dynamics (BED) statistics measure these changes by tracking employment at private-sector establishments from one quarter to the next. The BED data reflect both increases due to expansions and new openings as well as decreases resulting from contractions and closures.
In Kentucky’s first quarter of 2025, gross job gains represented 5.2 percent of private-sector employment, compared with a national figure of 5.6 percent. Expanding establishments accounted for 72,762 new jobs—an increase of 186 jobs over the prior quarter—while opening establishments added another 15,413 jobs but showed a decrease of 1,394 jobs compared to the previous period.
Gross job losses made up 4.8 percent of Kentucky’s private-sector employment; nationally, this share was higher at 5.4 percent. Contracting establishments in Kentucky lost 68,021 jobs—a decline of 10,052 jobs relative to the preceding quarter—and closing businesses lost an additional 13,237 jobs.
Eight out of eleven major industry sectors in Kentucky reported more gross job gains than losses during this period. Professional and business services led with a net gain of 4,127 jobs after accounting for both gains and losses within the sector. Retail trade recorded a net increase of 1,733 jobs; education and health services followed closely with a net gain of 1,622 jobs. Leisure and hospitality was the only sector with a significant net loss—down by 1,400 jobs.
The BED data provide detailed figures on gross job gains and losses across industry subsectors for all states as well as U.S. territories like Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; they also include firm-level data by employer size class.
The next BED report covering the second quarter of 2025 is scheduled for release on February 26, 2026.
The BED statistics are produced through collaboration between federal and state agencies under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program using existing BLS records.
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