The Conference Board Employment Trends Index decreased in August for the second time in the past four months. The index now stands at 96.7, down from July's revised figure of 97.4.

However, the index is up 9.4 percent from a year ago.

"Employment growth has been slow lately, and the Employment Trends Index suggests that it may slow even further this fall," said Gad Levanon, associate director of macroeconomic research at The Conference Board. "However, we still expect job growth rather than an outright decline in the next several months."

The decline was driven by negative contributions from seven of the eight components. The weakening indicators included Percentage of Respondents Who Say They Find "Jobs Hard to Get", Initial Claims for Unemployment Insurance, Percentage of Firms With Positions Not Able to Fill Right Now, Part-Time Workers for Economic Reasons, Job Openings, Industrial Production and Real Manufacturing and Trade Sales.

It is the first time since March 2009 that seven components contributed negatively to the overall index.

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