Conference Board Indicator Ticks Up Fourth Consecutive Month

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) increased in January for the fourth consecutive month. The index now stands at 100.5, up from December’s revised figure of 100.3. The index is up 7 percent from a year ago.

Says Gad Levanon, Associate Director, Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board: “Despite anemic job gains in January, the Employment Trends Index suggests that employment growth is poised to accelerate. Both ‘hard’ economic data as well as confidence measures have improved, and since employment growth typically lags, we expect larger numbers of jobs to be added back into the economy in the coming months.”

This month’s increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from four out of the eight components plus one neutral, which is Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now. The improving indicators included Consumer Confidence “Jobs Hard to Get,” Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons, Job Openings and Industrial Production.