The Conference Board's U.S. employment trends index remained flat in July with a reading of 88.3, the same as the revised readings for the last two months.

"The employment trends index has been flat in the last three months," said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board. "This suggests that we are getting closer to the point when employers are no longer cutting their workforce. However, since we are expecting a weak economic recovery, and given the record number of involuntary part-time workers -- many of whom are likely to move to full-time positions before new employees are hired -- we do not expect significant job growth over the next year."

The employment trends index aggregates eight labor market indicators into a composite index.