A monthly index tracking labor trends continues to rise, forecasting what could be more robust job growth in the United States.

The Conference Board reported that its Employment Trends Index (ETI) advanced almost 1.4 percent to 107.46 in February. The index is up more than 6 percent from the same month a year ago.

“The acceleration in the ETI suggests that rapid job growth is likely to continue in the next several months despite modest improvements in demand and production,” said Gad Levanon, an economist with the Conference Board, a business research and membership group.

“In the past year, output per hour of work grew very slowly. If this trend continues, employment growth could remain robust even if (gross domestic product) continues to grow at a modest 2 (percent) to 2.5 percent, as we expect,” Levanon added.

The ETI aggregates eight labor market indicators into one index. For February, seven indicators advanced.