NEW YORK -- The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) fell to 96.6 in January, down 1 percent from December, and down 18.6 percent from last year.
"The Employment Trends Index has recently been declining faster than at any time since the 1974 recession," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "Such declines suggest considerable job losses will persist for several more months. It is becoming clearer that the continued worsening economic conditions are forcing many companies to make further downward adjustments to their workforce."
The ETI aggregates eight labor-market indicators, including:
- Percentage of respondents who say they find "Jobs Hard to Get" (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey
- Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor)
- Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able To Fill Right Now (National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation)
- Number of Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
- Part-time Workers for Economic Reasons (BLS)
- Job Openings (BLS)
- Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board)
- Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)
For more information, visit https://www.conference-board.org/economics/employment.cfm