2012.06.04 16:00:24 US Conference Board: Employment Index Suggests No Further Slowing In Job Growth

By Kathleen Madigan Despite government reports of weaker growth in payrolls, a compilation of U.S. labor indicators continues to gain ground, according to a report released Monday by the Conference Board. The board said that its May employment trends index increased 0.29% to 108.34 from a revised 108.03 in April, first reported as 108.04. The May index is up 7.6% from a year ago. The index suggests no further slowing in employment after the recent weakness in job growth, said the report. "Employers have been very cautious in hiring in the past two months, but at the moment, economic activity in the U.S. is just strong enough to require a modestly growing workforce," said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at the board. On Friday, the Labor Department said U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by only 69,000 in May, less than half the number expected by economists. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2% from 8.1% in April. In May, five of the eight components within the ETI increased. The improving indicators included the percentage of firms with hard-to-fill positions and jobless claims. The Conference Board's index is an aggregate of eight labor-market indicators, including jobless claims, job openings data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and industrial production figures from the Federal Reserve. It seeks to facilitate forecasts for employment, unemployment and wages by filtering out the noise and volatility of monthly labor market indicators and showing underlying trends more clearly. The employment trends index is published the first business day following the government's monthly jobs report. Write to Kathleen Madigan at kathleen.madigan@dowjones.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 04, 2012 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)