(Filed Under Fashion News). The Conference board, publisher of the Employment Trends Index (ETI), announced recent statistics indicate there will be more employment declines to come.

For November, the index fell to 102.9 percent, down 1.6 percent form the October revised figure of 104.5, and down from over 13 percent from a year ago.

"Thus far, the U.S. economy has lost 1.9 million jobs and the declines in the ETI suggest job losses could very well surpass 3 million by mid 2009," said Gad Levanon, senior economist at the Conference Board. "The continued deterioration in the labor market will exert significant downward pressure on wages."

The 16-month long decline in the ETI is seen in all eight of its components, most notably over the past six months in temporary-help hires and part time workers for economic reasons, notes Levanon.

The eight labor-market indicators aggregated into the ETI include: percentage of respondents who say they find "jobs hard to get " (Conference Board consumer confidence survey); initial claims for unemployment insurance (U.S. Department of Labor); percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now (National Federation of Independent Business); number of employees hired by the temporary-help industry (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); part-time workers for economic reasons (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); job openings (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics); industrial production (federal reserve board); and real manufacturing and trade sales (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

For over 90 years, the Conference Board, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization, has created and analyzed knowledge about management and the marketplace to help businesses strengthen their performance and better serve society.

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Published 12-12-2008 by Bruna Fernandes