Help-wanted advertising increased last month.

The seasonally adjusted help wanted index (1967=100) gained one point to 139 in July from a month earlier, the Conference Board said. “The behavior of the help-wanted index indicates that the economy has been expanding too slowly to allow for much improvement in labor market conditions,” board economist Ken Goldstein said. The index measures the volume of classified advertising in 51 major newspapers across the nation. In selected regional findings, comparing July to June, the index rose in New England to 159 from 153, dropped to 165 from 172 in Southeast cities, dropped a point to 89 in the Upper Midwest and rose to 198 from 191 on the Pacific Coast, the board said.