By Jessica Coacci
A reading of the U.S. labor market from The Conference Board fell slightly in May, highlighting potential downside risks to the labor market, a gauge of employment showed.
The Employment Trends Index, or ETI, fell to 107.01 in May, from an upwardly revised 107.88 in April.
May's payroll employment report was strong, but ETI, a forward-looking measure for payrolls, ticked down slightly, with five of eight components contributing negatively to the index, said Jannik Schulz, economic research associate at The Conference Board.
When the ETI increases, employment is likely to increase as well, while turning points in the index suggest a change in the number of jobs is likely to occur in the short term. Nonetheless, the ETI is up 2.1 points compared with six months ago, indicating continued resilience in the labor market, The Conference Board said.
The primary drag on the ETI in May was the share of small firms reporting that jobs are "not able to be filled right now," which dropped to its lowest level since May 2020. In addition, while job openings increased sharply to above 7.6 million in April, the jump was driven by an idiosyncratic movement in the professional and business service industry, which is not expected to continue, The Conference Board said.
Meanwhile, real manufacturing and trade sales and industrial production recorded little change but contributed marginally to the month's decline.
Positive contributions to the ETI included the share of involuntary part-time workers, which fell in May from April. The share of consumers who reported "jobs are hard to get" declined for a second month in a row.
Write to Jessica Coacci at jessica.coacci@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-08-26 1040ET
