Before other indicators are released, the SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment Report® (LINE®) provides information on:
- Expected Job Change: The LINE Employment Expectations index is released approximately one month earlier than the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Employment Situation Report covering the same period.
- Recruiting Difficulty: The LINE Report includes the only published measure of the difficulty firms have recruiting highly qualified candidates for their most critical positions. Such difficulties constrain the competitiveness of firms and the U.S. economy.
- New-Hire Compensation: The LINE Report also includes the only published measure of changes in wage rates offered to new hires which respond sooner than the wages of all workers to changing economic conditions.
- Vacant Positions: The LINE report also tracks changes in the number of job vacancies in exempt and nonexempt positions in the manufacturing and service sectors.
Why can the SHRM LINE Report provide this information before anyone else?
The SHRM LINE Report uses data collected through a monthly survey of human resource executives at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service-sector firms. They know if their firm’s workforce will be significantly expanded or cut back in the upcoming month because they are responsible for the job changes already underway. The LINE expectation measures are therefore not economic forecasts, but are simply a report on “what’s already in the works.” This provides an early indication of the numbers the BLS will release approximately one month later.
Read more