By Maria Martinez

An index that measures U.S. employment trends increased slightly in November, advancing steadily and suggesting that the labor market's recovery gathered pace over the month.

The Conference Board Employment Trends Index rose to 114.49 in November from a revised 113.03 in October, according to data released Monday from The Conference Board.

The Conference Board indicator suggests a decent outlook for job growth over the next several months, said Gad Levanon, head of The Conference Board Labor Markets Institute.

The release of the index follows Friday's employment report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which showed the U.S. labor market added 210,000 jobs in November, missing expectations.

"November's disappointing payrolls growth may be an outlier rather than a new trend," Mr. Levanon said. He added that this is contingent on the emerging Omicron variant, which threatens to extend Covid-19's effects on job growth beyond Delta.

The Conference Board projects the unemployment rate to approach 3.0% by the end of 2022, which would mark a 70-year low.

The increase in the headline index in November was driven by positive contributions from six of the eight components it is formed of, which are initial claims for unemployment insurance; industrial production; the ratio of involuntarily part-time to all part-time workers; job openings; the number of temporary employees; and real manufacturing and trade sales.

The indicators which didn't contribute positively to the index are the percentage of firms with positions not able to fill right now and the percentage of respondents who say they find jobs hard to get.

Write to Maria Martinez at maria.martinez@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2021 10:33 ET (15:33 GMT)

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