The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) increased in September. The index now stands at 114.78, up from 113.98 (an upward revision) in August. The ETI figure for September is 6.3 percent higher than a year ago.

"The Employment Trends Index accelerated in August and September, with improvements across all eight components during these two months," said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. "In contrast to the gloomy headlines from Tuesday's jobs report, the ETI signals upward momentum in labor market conditions in the months ahead."

September's improvement in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from seven of its eight components. The increasing indicators — from the largest positive contributor to the smallest — were Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Number of Temporary Employees, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Industrial Production, Consumer Confidence Survey Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get," Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales, and Job Openings.