The U.S. job market slid further in January, continuing a pace of declines last seen during the 1974 recession, a research group said Monday.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said its Employment Trends Index fell to 96.6 in January from 97.5 in the prior month.

The index is down 18.6 percent from a year ago.

"The Employment Trends Index has recently been declining faster than at any time since the 1974 recession," said Gad Levanon, economist at the Conference Board, in a report.

 "Such declines suggest considerable job losses will persist for several more months." (Reuters)