The Conference
Board announced on Monday its employment trends index (ETI) for the U.S., a
leading composite indicator for employment, jumped to 113.15 in November from a
downwardly revised 112.48 (from 113.05) in November.
According to
the report, last month’s advance in the ETI was due to gains in 4 of 8
components, including Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs Hard to
Get”, Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Real Manufacturing and Job
Openings.
Commenting on
the latest data, Selcuk Eren, Senior Economist at The Conference Board, noted that an uptick
in the ETI in December signalled employment would continue to grow in early
2024. However, he noted that The Conference Board projects a short and shallow
recession starting in the first half of 2024 and negative payroll prints in the
second part of the year.