The Conference Board’s employment trends index increased 0.2% to 89.9 in May from a revised 89.7 in April, originally reported as 89.5.
The ETI fell 20.0% in the past year, according to the board.
“While it is too early to say that the ETI has bottomed, the moderation of the last two months is certainly a sign that the decline in job losses is real and signals that the worst is over,” said Gad Levanon, senior economist at the Conference Board. “However, as the economic recovery over the coming months is likely to be very slow, we still expect the unemployment rate to continue to increase to double digits by the end of this year and into 2010.”
