The Conference Board Employment Trends Index increased in July. The index increased from 132.42 in June to 133.77. That's 4.8 percent higher than a year ago.

The increase suggested solid hiring and further tightening of the labor market in the months ahead, said Gad Levanon, the board’s chief economist for North America.

The increase was fueled by a number of factors:

• the high percentage of firms with positions they were unable to fill
• the ratio of involuntarily part-time workers
• industrial production
• temporary help employee numbers
• the percentage of job seekers who say jobs are hard to get
• sales
• job openings
• initial claims for unemployment insurance