Statistical Notes Thursday October 13

-The British unemployment rate rose to 8.1% in the three months to August, the highest since 1996, as the employment rate fell from 70.7% in the three months to May to 70.4% in the three months to August.

These numbers will likely not improve as claims for jobless benefits rose in September from August. Meanwhile, annual earnings growth for those who have jobs fell from 2.9% to 2.8% in nominal terms, something that given the 4.5% inflation rate means a reduction in real wages.

The U.K. trade deficit fell to £1.9 billion as both imports and exports fell.

-The U.S. trade deficit was unchanged at $45.6 billion in August, while the July deficit was upwardly revised from $44.8 billion. Compared to a year earlier, exports rose 14.7%, while imports rose 11.3%. Because imports was larger than exports to begin with, the trade deficit still rose slightly from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, initial jobless claims fell slightly to 404,000 from an upwardly revised 405,000 (initially reported as 401,000.

-Employment in Australia rose 0.2% in September compared to August, and 1.1% compared to September 2010. Unemployment fell to 5.2% from 5.3% the previous month, but is up from 5.1% a year earlier.

-Inflation in Germany rose in September to 2.9% from 2.5%, a higher than initially estimated increase.

-Euro area industrial production rose by 1.2% in August compared to July and 5.3% compared to August 2010. The annual rate of changed ranged from +22.7% in Estonia to -12.3% in Greece.

-China's trade surplus

-Employment in South Korea rose by 1.1% in September compared to a year earlier, pushing down the unemployment rate to 3.0% from 3.4% a year earlier.