On a more formal basis, cooperation between central banks and supervisors could be organised via “Domestic Standing Groups” in which the Ministry of Finance may also take part, ensuring the participation of all parties with a role in safeguarding or restoring stability. In Germany, BaFin, the Bundesbank and the Ministry of Finance have held regular meetings in such a format since 2002.
Following this methodology, Federal Reserve Board staff developed a labor market conditions index from 19 labor market indicators, including four I just discussed.14 This broadly based metric supports the conclusion that the labor market has improved significantly over the past year, but it also suggests that the decline in the unemployment rate over this period somewhat overstates the improvement in overall labor market conditions.