The Conference
Board (CB) informed on Monday its employment trends index (ETI) for the U.S., a
leading composite indicator for employment, dropped by 0.8 per cent to 112.29 in
February from a downwardly revised 113.18 (from 113.71) in January. This marked
the first decrease in the ETI in three months.
According to
the report, last month’s fall in the ETI was due to negative contributions from
4 of its 8 components, including Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs
Hard to Get”, Percentage of Firms with Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now,
Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry, and Initial Claims
for Unemployment Insurance.
Commenting on
the latest data, Will Baltrus, associate economist at the CB, noted that the
ETI had been trending downward since hitting a peak in March 2022. “While the
Index is still elevated compared to its pre-pandemic level and the economy has
continued to add jobs through February 2024, the labour market is likely to cool
off, with modest job gains expected through Q3 and Q4 of 2024,” he added.