The Conference Board’s Employment Trends Index (ETI), a forward-looking labor-market gauge, rose to 108.53 in August from a revised 107.76 in July, marking its second consecutive monthly increase. The index improved 2.0% from August 2025 and combines eight labor-market indicators from sources including the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the Census Bureau and state unemployment agencies. The improvement reflected lower involuntary part-time work, fewer respondents reporting that jobs were hard to get and a 6,800-position increase in temporary-help services employment. Conference Board Economic Data Scientist Associate Conrad Qi said the components had contributed positively on average over the previous six months, indicating that job growth was broadly distributed. However, initial unemployment-insurance claims increased, job openings fell by 26,000 to 7.24 million and more firms reported difficulty filling positions. The August ETI release coincided with the BLS Employment Situation report, which showed 162,000 nonfarm jobs added and an unchanged unemployment rate of 4.1%.