The Conference Board employment trends index edged up to a reading of 111.68 in April from its revised reading of 111.61 in March. The April reading is up 3.8 percent from the same month a year ago.

“Despite weak economic activity, the employment trends index is still signaling moderate job growth in the coming months,” said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. “On average, employment has grown almost as fast as GDP over the past three years, and that is likely to continue into the third quarter of 2013. As a result, the average labor productivity of American workers will struggle to improve until GDP growth accelerates.”