The Conference Board’s US employment trends index fell in March to a reading of 127.48 from February’s downwardly revised reading of 128.54. The March reading is up 1.1% from the same month a year ago.  

“The Employment Trends Index has been showing signs of weakening in recent months, suggesting that employment growth is likely to slow through the summer,” said Gad Levanon, chief economist, North America, at The Conference Board. “With GDP barely growing at a 2% rate, it’s difficult to see how employment can continue to expand by 200,000 or more jobs per month.”

March’s decrease in the economic trends index was driven by negative contributions from four of the eight components, with the percentage of respondents who say they find “jobs hard to get,” the largest negative contributor.

The US Department of Labor on Friday reported the US added 215,000 jobs in March and gained 4,000 temp jobs.