The Conference Board (04/07/2014)

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in March to 117.52, up from an upwardly revised 117.01 in February. This represents a 5.1% gain in the ETI compared with a year ago.

“The increase in the ETI in the first quarter is signaling solid job growth in the coming months,” says Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at the Conference Board. “With [gross domestic product] forecasted to average 2.5% to 3.0% through the end of this year, there is little reason to expect employment growth to slow any time soon.”

March’s increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from four of its eight components: initial claims for unemployment insurance, industrial production, number of temporary employees, and real manufacturing and trade sales.