ECONODAY: Employment has been the economy's central strength but has not been in the positive column for the labor market conditions index which remains in contraction for a 4th straight month, at minus 0.9 in April. Still, this is an improvement from March's minus 2.1, a month when payroll growth and the participation rate were stronger but not other data that are tracked in this composite including the 12-month reading for average hourly earnings or the jobs-hard-to-get subcomponent of the consumer confidence report which both showed strength in April. The index, experimental in nature, is a broad composite of 19 separate indicators and, as yet at least, is rarely cited by policy makers...
