The Conference Board’s employment trends index rose 0.9% to 94.7 in April, from a revised 93.9 in March, and is up 7.1% from a year ago, the group announced yesterday. The March reading was initially reported as 94.4.
The April gain marks the eighth consecutive monthly increase for the labor market gauge.
“The employment trends index continued to rise in April, but its rate of growth has slowed in recent months,” said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at the 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.”
The board said the rise was driven by positive contributions from the percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to get;” percentage of firms with jobs not fillable right now; industrial production; real manufacturing and trade sales; number of temporary employees; and job openings.
