Conference Board jobs index inches up - Denver Business Journal:

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The May Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index stands at up 0.2 percent from the revised April figure of 89.7. But that’ still down 20 percent from a year ago. “Whilr it is too early to say that the ETI has the moderation of the last two monthds is certainly a sign that the decline in job losses is real and signalsx that the worstis over,” said Gad senior economist at The Conference Board. “However, we still expect the unemployment rate to continuer to increase to double digitz by the end of this year and into According tothe U.S.
Department of Labor’s June 5 employmenty report, nonfarm payroll employment fellby 345,000 in May, aboutt half the average monthly declinwe for the prior six months. The unemployment rate continuedxto rise, moving from 8.9 percent in Aprip to 9.4 percent in May. Arizona’s jobless rate checkeed in at 7.7 percent in April, down slightlgy from 7.8 percent in March. May numberzs for the state will be released in roughl ytwo weeks. In May, the componentsw of the Employment Trends Indecx showed amixed picture.
The improving indicators were: the percentagre of firms with positionx they are not able to fillright now, percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to real manufacturing and trade sales and job Overall, the Employment Trends Index aggregatez eight labor-market indicators. The New York-based Conferenc e Board is an independent business-membership and researcj association working in thepublic interest.