Gallup US Job creation index tops six year high

Gallup's Job Creation Index reached a six-year high of plus 30 in September, up from readings of plus 28 both in July and August. For the third month in a row and only the third time since 2008 workers were slightly more likely to report that their employer is hiring than they were to report that there were no changes in their workforce.

The uptick in job creation is because of a new high for nongovernment hiring, which reached an index reading of plus 32. Forty-three percent of nongovernment workers said their employer was hiring, while 11 percent said their employer was letting people go. At the same time, hiring amongst government employees is down five index points, at a current reading of plus 18. According to these worker reports, local government was the only level of government that had an increase in net hiring in September, while both federal and state government workers reported drops in hiring.

At both the state and local government levels, 38 percent of workers reported that their employers were hiring, while 13 percent said they were letting people go resulting in index readings of plus 25 for each. Federal government workers, meanwhile, reported the lowest levels of hiring, with 32 percent saying their employers were hiring and 31 percent reporting that their employers were trimming their staff. This resulted in an index score of plus 1 for federal hiring.

Among Gallup's economic indicators, job creation has offered some of the most promising signals in 2014. And though it has generally been on the rise since 2010, it has had a steeper incline this year than in any of the previous years since Gallup started tracking the index in 2008.