In countries where local interest rates are well above international levels, such carrying costs could be positive, while if the reverse is true such carrying costs could be negative. A recent study by the BIS has shown that carrying costs are negative in a number of countries at current interest rates.
When the Labor Department released its annual benchmarking of the establishment survey data last month, it revised up its estimate of employment in December 2012 by 647,000. In addition, I am likely to supplement the data on employment and unemployment with measures of gross job flows, such as job loss and hiring, which describe the underlying dynamics of the labor market.