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mpc: 7 A31 According to the CIPS survey, manufacturing employment had stopped falling, employment growth in services had eased, while employment growth in the construction sector had been broadly stable. Looking ahead, surveys of employment intentions had all indicated further employment expansion. A32 Surveys of skill shortages and recruitment difficulties had provided a more mixed picture of the degree of labour market tightness. The CBI Industrial Trends Survey had reported that skill shortages had increased in the September quarter, but remained below their historical average. The BCC Quarterly Economic Survey had reported that recruitment difficulties had lessened over this period, but remained high by historical standards. The stock of unfilled vacancies in job centres had remained high in September. However, the National Press Recruitment Advertising Index had continued its downward trend. A33 Unemployment levels had fallen on both the LFS and claimant count measures. LFS unemployment had fallen by 83,000 to 5.9% in June-August compared with the previous three months. The claimant count had fallen by 5,400 in September, with the rate unchanged at 4.2%, the lowest since the early 1980s. But the participation rate had still not exceeded its peak in the early 1990s. A34 Inactivity had risen by 23,000 in June-August compared with the previous three months, with the inactivity rate unchanged at 21.2%. However, it remained about 30,000 below its level at the same time the previous year. A35 August's average earnings data had included returns from a new sample, implementing a recommendation of the Turnbull-King report following the suspension of the index in late 1998. Headline average earnings growth in August had risen by 0.3 percentage points to 4.9%. Stronger growth in private sector earnings had more than offset a fall in public sector earnings growth. Earnings growth had in recent months been affected by changes in the timing of bonus payments, though the latest month's figure had appeared to be free from such distortions. The implementation of the National Minimum Wage (NMW) may also have had an impact on recent AEI outturns. The New Earnings Survey had shown that gross weekly pay had grown by 3.6% in the year to April 1999, slightly lower than the AEI over the same period (4.0%).