The Conference Board announced on Monday its employment trends index
(ETI) for the U.S., a leading composite indicator for employment, climbed to 115.45
in July from a downwardly revised 113.56 (from 114.31) in June. That marked the first increase in the ETI In three months and signalled continued job growth in the coming months.
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”, Ratio of Involuntarily Part-time to All Part-time Workers,
Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, and Job Openings.
Commenting on the latest data, Selcuk Eren, Senior Economist at The
Conference Board, noted, that the ETI peaked in March 2022 and had been on a
slow downward trend since then but remained elevated and significantly above
pre-pandemic levels. “We expect positive employment growth for the coming
months even if the rate slows down,” he added. “With continued strength in the
labour market and elevated wage growth, we anticipate the Federal Reserve will
raise interest target rates one more time”.