The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index rebounded slightly after the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the addition of 151,000 jobs to the labor force in October. The Index for last month reached 98.1, an increase from 97.3 in September.

"The improvement in the ETI in October suggests that negative job growth in the next quarter or two is very unlikely. However, we forecast sluggish economic activity until mid-2011 at the earliest. Employment growth will likely remain weak in 2011," said Gad Levanon, associate director of Macroeconomic Research at The Conference Board.

Comprised of eight components, the Index saw improvements in the categories of initial claims for unemployment insurance, number of temporary employees, part-time workers for economic reasons, job openings, industrial production, and real manufacturing and trade sales.