The Conference Board’s US employment trends index rose in July to a reading of 127.89 from June’s downwardly revised reading of 127.57. The July reading is up 4.4% from the same month a year ago.  

“The growth in the employment trends index slowed down in the past three to six months, suggesting that we may see somewhat slower job growth in the months ahead,” said Gad Levanon, managing director of macroeconomic and labor market research at The Conference Board. “Still, with almost no expansion of the labor force, a slowing of employment growth to 150,000-200,000 jobs a month would be enough to rapidly tighten the labor market.”

Last Friday, the US Department of Labor reported the US added 215,000 jobs in July. However, the number of temp jobs fell by 8,900.