Research >> Economics
Employment Trends Index Increased in February to 107.46
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The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ (ETI) increased 1.38 percent in February to 107.46, from the revised figure of 105.99 in January. The February figure is also up 6.1 percent from the same month a year ago.
The acceleration in the ETI suggests that rapid job growth is likely to continue in the next several months, despite modest improvements in Demand and Production. In the past year output per hour of work grew very slowly. If this trend continues, employment growth could remain robust even if GDP continues to grow at a modest 2 to 2.5 percent, as we expect.
February’s growth in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from seven of the eight components. The improving indicators – beginning with the largest positive contributor – were Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs Hard to Get”, Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry, Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Industrial Production*, Real Manufacturing and Trade Sale**, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons, and Job Openings**. The only negative contributor this month was Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now.
Posted: March 12, 2012 Monday 10:00 AM