Job Listings Continue to Fall in May

The national unemployment rate continued to rise is June, increasing 0.1 percent from May's 9.4 percent to 9.5 percent. This marked the 9th consecutive month of growing joblessness. Considering this, it is no surprise that job listings and other indicators showed further signs of decline during the month.

According to a recent report from the Conference Board, its Employment Trends Index (ETI) saw another moderate decline in June. Last month it lost 0.8 percentage points, falling from May's 89.1 to 88.4. Currently the Index is down 21.6 percent from the same month last year.

"Compared to the beginning of the year, the decline in the Employment Trends Index has significantly moderated, and we therefore expect job growth to resume around the end of the year," said The Conference Board's Senior Economist Gad Levanon in the press release. "However, over the last month, leading indicators of employment were mostly disappointing, suggesting the Employment Trends Index is still seeking a bottom."

During the month of June the indicators the Conference Board utilizes to create its ETI reported a mixed picture, which is why the decline was only moderate. Indicators that showed decline included: the percentage of respondents that they find "jobs hard to get", the number of employees in the temporary-help industry, industrial production, real manufacturing and trade sales and job openings.

The Employment Trends Index uses eight separate labor-market indicators, all of which have been found to be accurate in their own right. Afterwards, these areas are combined to give a better picture of the current hiring situation. By doing this, the Conference Board is able to get a better picture of whether or not the number of job listings and other factors affecting the job market are actually declining. It also enables them to see what the trends really are.

The eight areas that come together to create the index are: the percentage of people polled who say that finding a job is difficult (The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Survey), Claims for Unemployment Insurance (U.S. Department of Labor), the number of employees hired on a temporary basis (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), the percentage of firms that are not able to fill positions at the time (National Federation of Independent Business), the number of people hired by temp agencies (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics), part-time workers hired for Economic Reasons (BLS), job listings (BLS), Industrial Production (Federal Reserve Board) and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

The Conference Board will be releasing its next Employment Trends Index at 10:00 am on August 10th. This report will highlight the condition of July's job market. The Conference Board releases its ETI each month on the Monday after the Friday that the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its employment situation report.