The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI)™ increased for the second consecutive month. The ETI now stands at 89.3, up 0.7 percent from the revised September figure. The index is down 13.2 percent from a year ago.

"The Employment Trends Index has likely turned a corner in September, and the historical relationship between the index and employment suggests that job losses will end in early 2010," said Gad Levanon, Senior Economist at The Conference Board. "While layoffs have certainly declined in recent months, we still expect to see employers adding hours to their existing workforce before hiring will strongly increase."

This month’s increase in the Employment Trends Index™ was driven by positive contributions from four out of the eight components. The improving indicators were Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Number of Temporary Employees, Industrial Production and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.

The Employment Trends Index™ aggregates eight labor-market indicators, each of which has proven accurate in its own area. Aggregating individual indicators into a composite index filters out so-called "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.