The Conference Board Employment Trends Index, the so-called ETI, has been released for the month of July. It looks a tad better than Friday’s unemployment and payrolls report. July’s ETI rose to 120.31 from an upwardly revised reading of 119.92 in June. The Conference Board pointed out up front that this now represents a 6.6% gain in the ETI from July of 2013. July’s increase in the ETI was driven by positive contributions from five of its eight components.

The Conference Board made two more observations as well. First was that the six-month growth rate in the ETI is the strongest in more than two years. The second is that the strength suggests that solid job growth should continue in the coming months.

Another key observation is that the recent and continued economic pickup is likely to increase the need and willingness of employers to accelerate hiring.

The index component growth came from the Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Job Openings, Industrial Production, Number of Temporary Employees, and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales. Again, five of the eight indicators were up.

What 24/7 Wall St. would propose is that the ETI is not a market moving number. What it does signal, however, is that the Labor Department’s reading on unemployment and payrolls may have ultimately been marginally better than the preliminary report indicated.

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