The Conference Board’s US Employment Trends Index rose in September to a reading of 128.51 from August’s downwardly revised reading of 127.96. The September reading, which followed a decrease in August, is up 1.1% from the same month a year ago.

“The Employment Trends Index increased to 128.51 in September, despite a large decline in one component, NFIB [National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation: Percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now], and suggests moderate job growth through the first quarter of 2017,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. “Despite the recent declines in corporate profits, employers are not showing any signs of reducing payrolls.”

Positive contributions from seven of the eight components fueled September’s increase. The percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to get” was the largest positive contributor, followed by the ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers.

The US Department of Labor on Friday reported the US added 156,000 jobs in September and gained 23,200 temp jobs.