The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased again in June for the 11th consecutive month. The index now stands at 96.7, up from May's revised figure of 96.1. The index is up 9.8 percent from a year ago.
"The weak growth in private sector employment in the last two months has been disappointing given the robust recovery in production in recent quarters," said Gad Levanon, associate director for macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. "The moderate increase in the Employment Trends Index in the last two months suggests that many employers are now concerned that the recovery is losing momentum."
This month's increase in the Employment Trends Index was driven by positive contributions from six out of the eight components. The improving indicators were: Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Number of Temporary Employees, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons, Job Openings, Industrial Production and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.
The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.
The eight labor-market indicators aggregated into the Employment Trends Index include:
Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get" (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey)
- Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor)
- Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now (National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation)
- Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons (BLS)
- Job Openings (BLS)
- Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board)
- Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
