The Conference Board Employment Trends Index was nearly unchanged in October from the previous month. October’s data was impacted by hurricanes and strikes, though The Conference Board expects the impacts of those to reverse in the next few months.

It ticked up to a reading of 107.66 in October from 107.58 in September.

“The ETI was nearly unchanged in October, holding steady at roughly 2018-19 levels, where it has persisted throughout the summer months,” Mitchell Barnes, economist at The Conference Board, said in a press release.

Barned noted, “The labor market continues to cool from its rapid post-pandemic pace, but the ETI suggests that this trend may be leveling out. This comes at a time when we expect business uncertainty to begin lifting as the Federal Reserve’s rate cuts start taking hold and uncertainty around the US election subsides.”

Although October’s job report provided mixed results due to the hurricanes and strikes, several labor market indicators within the ETI improved, Barnes said. For example, the share of respondents in The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Survey who report “jobs are hard to get” fell to a reading of 16.8 from a reading of 18.6.

“We expect some of October’s data blips to reverse in subsequent months and generally see an economy growing at a healthy pace heading into 2025 as inflation and wage pressures continue to moderate,” he said.

The US added only 12,000 nonfarm jobs in October, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statics. That’s down from the 120,000 that some economists thought that the economy would add. Also, US temp jobs plunged by 48,500.