"When we do these growth rates, we're comparing them to the same period last year," he said. "Later on, as we do these, we'll be comparing them against a stronger and stronger period in 2004. So it's pretty much natural that the growth rate will come down a little bit. That doesn't mean that anything really negative is happening, it's just that we're comparing against a stronger period of time than we previously had."

Knold predicted that employment growth will dip to the lower-3 percent range in late 2005, from the mid- to high-3 percent growth earlier in the year.

But he also said he believes energy prices have peaked for the year and likely will start to come back down.

"The Saudis know — years and years ago, during the energy crunch, they tried to pinch us, and I think they learned from that," he said. "They learned that pinching eventually turns around to bite them in the hand. And they know that technologies are such that, they're close enough that, pushed to the point of madness, that over the long run we can start building cars that don't need oil. They're quite sensitive to that situation."

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