The Conference Board’s employment trends index rose 0.3% to 93.5 in February, up from an unrevised 1.0% jump to 93.2 in January. The ETI is up 13.4% in the past six months, the highest six-month growth rate since 1994, the group announced yesterday.
“The continued rise in the ETI suggests that job growth is about to begin,” said Gad Levanon, associate director of macro-economic research.
“The past two jobless recoveries in 1991 and 2002 were a result of a continuous decline in manufacturing employment,” he said.
“This time, the strong recovery in manufacturing production has already led to two consecutive monthly increases in manufacturing employment. We are likely to see this trend continue over the next several months, which will contribute to overall job growth.”
