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Employment Index Up for Sixth Month

April 04, 2011

The Conference Board's U.S. employment trends index rose for the sixth month in a row to a reading of 100.9 in March. February's revised reading was 100.3. The index is up more than 8 percent from a year ago.

"The employment trends index started signaling acceleration in employment growth late last year, which we are now experiencing," said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. "In the last six months, employment excluding construction and state and local government has been growing faster than almost any other six-month period in the past decade. We do not expect a turnaround in those sectors, which are still lagging, nor do we forecast acceleration in overall economic growth in the next several quarters. As a result, employment growth is likely to continue growing at its current rate and not improve further for the rest of 2011."