The pace of new hiring slowed during...

The pace of new hiring slowed during May as the steady improvement in labor conditions leveled off, the Conference Board, a business-financed research organization, said. The board said its help-wanted advertising index edged up three points in May to 160. The index measures the monthly volume of classified advertising in 51 major U.S. newspapers. The group said such advertising increased moderately in all sections of the country, except for Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, which saw a 4.1% decline. Elsewhere, the gains ranged from 6.5% in the New York-Pennsylvania area to 0.5% in the Nebraska, Minnesota and Missouri region. Job growth in the second half of the year is expected to lag behind the first half, the group said.