The Conference Board Employment Trends Index inched down to 119.77 in May after coming in at 120.60 in April. This suggests that job growth is slowing.
“The labor market may have less room for more growth with overall employment down only 0.5 percent compared to the pre-pandemic level,” said Agron Nicaj, Associate Economist at The Conference Board. He added that in-person service industries such as leisure and hospitality are still recovering from pandemic-related job loss.
May’s index fell due to negative contributions from four of the eight labor market indicators, ordered from the greatest to the least contributor:
- Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find “Jobs Hard to Get”
- Ratio of Involuntarily Part-time to All Part-time Workers
- Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales
- Industrial Production
“The labor market remains strong amid high inflation,” Nicaj added, “and the Federal Reserve is likely to continue its focus on stabilizing prices as a result. A strong response by the Fed risks higher unemployment rates by the end of 2022.”
