- Prior was 116.6 (revised to 117.94)
- Full report
This reading underscores the strength in Friday's non-farm payrolls, despite omicron. The revision to the December number makes it the cycle high.
“The Employment Trends Index was basically flat in January,” said Frank Steemers, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. “It appears that the Omicron variant did not impact job growth as much as initially feared. Solid job growth is likely to continue over the next months."
“Employers appear to be managing these pandemic disruptions better, even as many workers called in sick or had to quarantine in January. On the other hand, employers are still trying hard to hold on to their workers in a tight labor market. Hiring and retention continues to be a challenge which we do not expect to dissipate anytime soon, especially for employers of manual labor and services. While an improving outlook for hiring and wages may attract some additional workers back to the labor market, employers may increasingly need to consider automating tasks or using different hiring strategies to help meet labor demands.”