The Fed introduced a brand new monthly measure of the US job market, called the Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI)

The Fed introduced a brand new monthly measure of the US job market, called the Labor Market Conditions Index (LMCI). LMCI is described as a dynamic factor model of labor market indicators which analyzes 19 different data sets. The idea is the LMCI will give deeper insight into labor conditions than we'd get from just the unemployment rate or non-farm payrolls, for example. Back testing the LMCI data suggests it does provide early signals when recession risk is rising. As such, this will certainly be an indicator I add to my watch list each month. The current reading of the LMCI shows a positive 2.5 value for September. Any reading above zero shows expansion in the labor market. That supports the other job-related economic news we've seen lately. (VIEW LINK)