The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) decreased again in September, following a downward revision in August. The index now stands at 107.86, down from the revised figure of 108.23 in August. The September figure is 5.4 percent higher than a year ago.

"In September, the Employment Trends Index declined for the third time in four months, suggesting that employment growth will weaken further in the fourth quarter," said Gad Levanon, Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. "The U.S. economy entered a soft patch in the spring and the result has been lackluster job growth, which is likely to continue through the first half of 2013."

September's decline in the ETI was driven by negative contributions from five of the eight components. The weakening indicators – beginning with the largest negative contributor – were Ratio of Involuntarily Part-time to All Part-time Workers, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Number of Temporary Employees and Job Openings.

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 "noise" to show underlying trends more clearly.