By Xavier Fontdegloria

An index measuring employment trends in the U.S. increased in April, signaling that the labor market continued to heal from the pandemic-induced hit, data from The Conference Board showed Monday.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index came in at 105.44 in April, up compared with a revised 102.65 in March. The indicator is up 45.7% from a year ago, when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the economy and employment plunged.

The release of the index follows Friday's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which showed U.S. labor market created 266,000 jobs, a significant slowdown from the 770,000 payrolls added in March. The data signaled many businesses struggle to find workers or remain cautious about the economic outlook.

"Despite the disappointing April jobs report, the Employment Trends Index significantly increased in April, suggesting strong employment growth in the coming months," said Gad Levanon, head of The Conference Board Labor Markets Institute.

Most of the components that form the index are rapidly improving and in the coming months job creation is expected to continue, albeit at a possibly slower pace than expected in light of the latest job numbers, he said.

"A slew of indicators measuring recruiting difficulties, quit rates, and wage growth suggest the U.S. economy is experiencing an historical, though probably temporary, labor shortage," Mr. Levanon said. This shortage may put a damper on job growth, he said.

The Employment Trends Index aggregates eight labor market-related indicators to show underlying trends in employment conditions.

The increase of the indicator in April was driven by positive contributions from six of the eight components, which are initial claims for unemployment insurance, the percentage of respondents who say they find jobs hard to get, the ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers, real manufacturing and trade sales, industrial production, and the percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now.

Job openings and the number of employees hired by the temporary-help industry components didn't contribute positively to the index in April.

Write to Xavier Fontdegloria at xavier.fontdegloria@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 10, 2021 10:30 ET (14:30 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.