The Conference Board’s employment trends index edged up in December to a reading of 115.76, up from November’s upwardly revised reading of 115.72. The December reading is up 5.2 percent from the same month a year ago.

“Despite the disappointing job numbers for December, the improvement in the Employment Trends Index is signaling solid employment growth in the months ahead,” said Gad Levanon, director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. “With the labor force barely growing, partly due to the massive wave of baby boomers retiring, this job growth will continue to rapidly bring down the unemployment rate.”