The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) edged down in January. The index now stands at 109.38, down from 109.47 in December. The January figure is 2.7 percent higher than a year ago.

"Despite the dip in January, the Employment Trends Index continues to signal a moderate improvement in the labor market," said Gad Levanon , Director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board. "However, employment growth has outpaced economic growth in recent months, and the ETI suggests that this rapid pace of improvement in hiring may not continue in the coming months."

January's decline in the ETI was driven by negative contributions from six of its eight components. The declining indicators -- from the largest negative contributor to the smallest -- were Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get," Ratio of Involuntarily Part-time to All Part-time Workers, Employees Hired by the Temporary-Help Industry, Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales, Job Openings and Industrial Production.