The Conference Board’s US Employment Trends Index increased sharply in October following declines in September and August caused by hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

“The bounce back in the Employment Trends Index in October was one of the largest monthly increases ever, and comes after two declines because of the hurricanes,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. “As expected, the ETI picked up and continued its strong upward trend, suggesting that employment growth will remain solid in the coming months.”

The index now stands at a level of 135.57, up from September’s level of 132.86.

The Employment Trends Index is based on eight labor market indicators, including:

• Initial claims for unemployment insurance (US Department of Labor)
• Percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now (National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation)
• Ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Industrial production (Federal Reserve Board)
• Real manufacturing and trade sales (US Bureau of Economic Analysis)
• Number of employees hired by the temporary-help industry (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to get” (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey)
• Job openings (US Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Separately, the US Department of Labor on Friday reported the US gained 261,000 jobs in October and temp jobs rose by 18,300.