Conference Board News Release (04/06/15)

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index declined slightly in March. The index now stands at 127.65, down from 127.77 in February, but a 5.6% gain in the ETI compared with a year ago.

“The growth in the [ETI] slowed down in the first quarter of 2015,” says Gad Levanon, managing director of macroeconomic and labor market research at the Conference Board. “The combination of the disappointing March employment report and the recent weakness in the ETI suggests that the likelihood of a slowdown in employment has increased. Even so, it is unlikely that job growth in the second quarter would fall much below the trend of 200,000 jobs per month.”