ECONOMY

Help-Wanted Barometer Drops: The Conference Board’s help-wanted advertising index, which gauges the job market, fell four points in June, the New York-based research group said. The seasonally adjusted index now stands at 117, down from 121 in May but up from 98 in June, 1993. “The recovery in labor market activity has slowed,” Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said. “Job advertising volume has been quite flat through the first half of 1994.” But over the last three months, help-wanted ads rose in five of the nation’s nine regions. In the Pacific region, volume was up 2.1%.