Employment Trends Index continues to grow, but at slower pace

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased again in April for the eighth consecutive month. The index now stands at 94.7, up from March's revised figure of 93.9. The index is up 7.1 percent from a year ago.

"The employment trends index continued to rise in April, but its rate of growth has slowed in recent months," said Gad Levanon, associate director for macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. "Going forward, we do not expect job growth to accelerate much beyond this month's rate, as the overall increase in economic activity is likely to moderate during the second half of 2010."

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 Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get," Percentage of Firms with Jobs Not Able to Fill Right Now ( NFIB Research Foundation), Number of Temporary Employees, 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)