By Kyle Morris

An index measuring employment trends in the U.S. rose in September for the fifth consecutive month as job growth continued its upward trajectory, data from the Conference Board showed Monday.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index was 54.80 in September, compared with the upwardly revised 53.30 for August.

The Employment Trends Index has been rising since May, but it is yet to recover from the hit from the coronavirus in March and April. In February, before the coronavirus hit the economy, the index was at 109.27.

The release of the index follows Friday's report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which showed U.S. job creation slowed in September to 661,000 with 7.9% unemployment.

"The Employment Trends Index increased again in September, but over the last two months its gains have been more modest, indicating that job growth may be slowing down," said Gad Levanon, Head of The Conference Board Labor Markets Institute.

"The labor market has rebounded better than expected, but with the virus still proliferating, it will not be able to return to its full capacity any time soon," Mr. Levanon said. He added that the U.S. economy may still be able to generate a million new jobs by year end.

The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor market-related indicators to show underlying trends in employment conditions. All eight components contributed positively in September.

From the largest positive contributor to the smallest, they were the ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers, initial claims for unemployment insurance, the percentage of respondents who say they find jobs hard to get, real manufacturing and trade sales, the percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now, job openings, the number of employees hired by the temporary-help industry and industrial production.

Write to Kyle Morris at kyle.morris@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-05-20 1028ET