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The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ Edges Up in September

Oct. 5, 2009

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The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ increased 0.3 percent from the revised August number, the first increase since January 2008. The index now stands at 88.5 and is down 15.6 percent from a year ago.

"While the employment numbers reported by the government last Friday were certainly disappointing, The Conference Board Employment Trends Index™ suggests that the trend of declining job losses will continue," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "But the road to recovery is definitely going to be bumpy and may last unusually long, given the depth of the recession we have experienced."

This month’s increase in the Employment Trends Index™ was driven by a positive contribution from four out of the eight components. The improving indicators were Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Industrial Production and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.

The Employment Trends Index™ 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™ include:

The Conference Board publishes the Employment Trends Index™ 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.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE BOARD

The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world’s leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States.

THE CONFERENCE BOARD EMPLOYMENT TRENDS INDEX (ETI)™
Release Dates for 2009

Monday, August 10
*Tuesday, September 8
Monday, October 5
Monday, November 9
Monday, December 7

*Tuesday release due to Labor Day

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

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