The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in August to 128.8, up from 127.6 in July. This represents a 4.5 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago.

““The large increase in the Employment Trends Index in August suggests that a significant moderation in employment growth is unlikely to occur in the coming months,” said Gad Levanon, managing director of macroeconomic and labor market research at The Conference Board. “With solid job growth expected to continue, the unemployment rate is likely to go below 5 percent by year’s end.”

August’s increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from four of the eight components. In order from the largest positive 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 temporary employees and industrial production.