The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased in August. The index now stands at 121.29, up from 120.62 (an upward revision) in July. This represents a 6.4 percent gain in the ETI compared to a year ago.

"The strong increase in the Employment Trends Index in recent months signals robust job growth through the fall," said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. "The disappointing employment numbers for August seem to be a one-month deviation from a stronger trend."

August's increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from seven of its eight components. In order from the largest positive contributor to the smallest, these were: Percentage of Firms with Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Industrial Production, Ratio of Involuntarily Part-time to All Part-time Workers, Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales, Number of Temporary Employees, Job Openings, and Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get."