The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in January to 128.9, up from 128.7 in December. This represents a 1.9 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago.

“The Employment Trends Index rose for the second month in a row, reducing the likelihood of further slowing in employment growth,” said Gad Levanon, managing director of macroeconomic and labor market research at The Conference Board. “However, the temporary help industry component declined sharply in January, and because it is one of the best leading indicators of employment growth, we will monitor it closely in the coming months.”

January’s increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from five of the eight components. In order from the largest positive contributor to the smallest: the percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to get,” industrial production, real manufacturing and trade sales, percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now, and the ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers.