The Conference Board’s US Employment Trends Index in December — which includes annual revisions — increased following a minor decline in November; the year-over-year change also remains positive.

It rose to a reading of 111.61 in December from 110.23 in November and marks a 5.4% gain over the past 12 months, according to the revised data.

“The Employment Trends Index rose sharply in December, reversing the declines in recent months, suggesting that employment will continue to expand in the coming months,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. “With gloom and doom views dominating the news in recent weeks, it is somewhat reassuring that leading indicators of employment are growing. While employment growth could slow down in 2019, it is still likely to expand fast enough to further tighten the labor market.”

Levanon also noted that all the main measures of wages are rapidly accelerating, suggesting that more people will get off the sidelines and return to the labor force this year.

The Employment Trends Index is released on the Monday following the release of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly employment situation report. Last Friday’s report found the number of temp help services jobs in the US rose by 3.3% year over year in December. The number of employees hired by the temporary help industry is one of eight measures tracked in The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index.