an index that gauges employment trends in the us increased in june after declining the prior month but underlying data signal that job growth is set to slow in the months ahead the conference boards employment trends index increased to 11938 in june from a revised 11888 in may data from the privateresearch group showed monday despite the rebound in june the index remains below levels seen earlier this year said frank steemers senior economist at the conference board moreover a range of other economic indicators point to an economy that is slowing he said the reading comes after an employment report from the bureau of labor statistics published friday showed us employers added 372000 jobs in june exceeding economists expectations the labor market is still strong and labor shortages are severe but it takes a few months for hiring decisions to adjust to changes in economic activity mr steemers said therefore we expect positive but decelerating job growth over the next months he said the employment trends index is a leading composite index for employment which aggregates eight indicators when the index increases employment is likely to increase as well four of the eight components that form the index rose in june the ratio of involuntarily parttime to all parttime workers the percentage of respondents who say they find jobs hard to get job openings and the number of employees hired by the temporaryhelp industry the current strength in the labor market could change toward the end of 2022 and 2023 as the risk of a mild recession is growing mr steemers said employers may reduce hiring and possibly implement furloughs and layoffs depending on the severity of a potential economic contraction he said by early 2023 there could possibly be monthly job losses and  the unemployment rate would tick up