“The Employment Trends Index has been flat in the last three months,” says Gad Levanon, senior economist at the Conference Board. “This suggests that we are getting closer to the point when employers are no longer cutting their workforce. However, since we are expecting a weak economic recovery, and given the record number of involuntary part-time workers–many of whom are likely to move to full-time positions before new employees are hired–we do not expect significant job growth over the next year.”
This month, the components of the ETI showed a mixed picture. The improving indicators were Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Industrial Production, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.
The ETI aggregates eight labor-market indicators, including Percentage of respondents who say they find “Jobs Hard to Get,” Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now; Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons, Job Openings, Industrial Production and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.
