A gauge of the U.S. job market remained unchanged in July for the third straight month, indicating that employment will remain weak throughout the coming year, a research group said on Monday.

The Conference Board, a private research group, said its Employment Trends Index was steady at 88.3 in July, the same level it read for the gauge's May and June revised figures.

The index is now down 20.1 percent from a year ago, according to the group.

This suggests that we are getting closer to the point when employers are no longer cutting their workforce, said Gad Levanon, senior economist at The Conference Board.

However, since we are expecting a weak economic recovery, and given the record number of involuntary part-time workers -- many of whom are likely to move to full-time positions before new employees are hired -- we do not expect significant job growth over the next year.

(Reporting by Camille Drummond; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)