Employment trends from the Conference Board
- Prior revised to 109.68
This is a composite index of data that's already been publishes, like initial jobless claims, but it offers a snapshot of a jobs market that's stronger than any point this century.
"The increase in the Employment Trends Index suggests strong employment growth is in store over the next several months," said Gad Levanon, Head of The Conference Board Labor Markets Institute. "As the negative economic impact of the Delta variant subsides, spending on-and employment in-in-person services should continue to recover toward pre-pandemic levels. We project the unemployment rate is likely to dip below four percent within the next six months and may reach the pre-pandemic low of 3.5 percent by the end of 2022. In other words, labor shortages may not go away. In such an environment, significant upward pressure on wages may become the new normal."