Employment Index - The Conference Board

Employment Trends Index (ETI)™

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The Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ Suggests Employers Will Continue to Aggressively Reduce Payrolls

November 10, 2008

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The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ continued its steep decline in October. The index fell in October to 105.3, down 1.8 percent from the September revised figure of 107.2, and down almost 12 percent from a year ago.

"The sharp decline in the Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ in recent months suggests we will experience even greater deterioration in the labor market in the months ahead, and that the unemployment rate will continue to rise sharply well into 2009," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "The economic developments of the last two months made it clear to businesses that demand for goods and services in the U.S. is declining, and businesses are responding by aggressively slashing their payrolls. Unfortunately, it seems this environment will persist for several more quarters and business leaders will continue reducing their workforce."

The 15 month-long decline in the Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ is seen in all eight of its components, most notably over the past six months in temporary-help hires and part-time workers for economic reasons, notes Levanon. The Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.

The eight labor-market indicators aggregated into the Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ include:

Percentage of respondents who say they find "Jobs Hard to Get" (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey)
Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor)
Percentage of Firms with One or More Jobs Open (National Federation of Independent Business)
Number of employees hired by the temporary-help industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Part-time Workers for Economic Reasons (BLS)
Job Openings (BLS)
Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board)
Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis)

The Conference Board publishes the Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ monthly, at 10 a.m. ET on the Monday that follows each Friday release of the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report. The technical notes are included here.

THE CONFERENCE BOARD EMPLOYMENT TRENDS INDEX™
Release Dates for 2008/2009

Data for the month of November: Monday, December 8, 2008 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of December: Monday, January 12, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of January: Monday, February 9, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of February: Monday, March 9, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of March: Monday, April 6, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of April: Monday, May 11, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of May: Monday, June 8, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of June: Monday, July 6, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of July: Monday, August 10, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of August: * Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of September: Monday, October, 5, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of October: Monday, November 9, 2009 at 10:00 am
Data for the month of November: Monday, December 7, 2009 at 10:00 am

* Tuesday release due to Labor Day.

For further information contact:
Gad Levanon
1 212 339 0317
gad.levanon@conference-board.org