Outsize labor market churn this spring led to large gains and losses in implied employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) : Monthly average in ESI gains, ESI losses, and net ESI changes in four periods (millions of workers)
| Gross gains | Gross losses | Net | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sept. 2008–March 2009 | 2.12 | 2.47 | -0.35 |
| 2015–2019 average | 2.76 | 2.66 | 0.10 |
| March and April 2020 | 2.38 | 5.57 | -3.20 |
| May and June 2020 | 3.31 | 2.31 | 1.00 |
Notes: Industry-specific rates of ESI coverage were calculated from the ASEC for 2018. Then, industry-level changes in hires and separations were taken from JOLTS. The industry-specific rates of ESI coverage were applied to industry-level hires and separations and summed. Industry measures of the share of workers with ESI include only those workers who get ESI directly from their own employer. It does not account for workers receiving coverage on someone else’s ESI plan.
Source: Authors’ analysis of data from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and from the Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).