The Conference Board Employment Trends Index decreased in December to 129.6, down from 129.9 in November. This represents a 2.2 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago.
"After strong growth over the previous three months, the Employment Trends Index declined slightly in the final month of 2016. However, the ETI’s trend suggests that job growth will remain solid in early 2017," said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. "And, employers have become more upbeat in recent months, suggesting the labor market may very well tighten faster than pre-election expectations."
December’s decline in the ETI was fueled by negative contributions from five of the eight components. In order from the largest negative contributor to the smallest, these were: 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, Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, and Job Openings.
