The Conference Board's U.S. employment trends index rose to a reading of 95.3 in February from 93.2 in January.

"The continued rise in the [employment trends index] suggests that job growth is about to begin," said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board.

"The past two jobless recoveries in 1991 and 2002 were a result of a continuous decline in manufacturing employment. This time, the strong recovery in manufacturing production has already led to two consecutive monthly increases in manufacturing employment," Levanon said. "We are likely to see this trend continue over the next several months, which will contribute to overall job growth."