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mpc: 7 A32 New vacancies notified to Jobcentres had fallen by 7,700 in January, to 228,800. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) survey for February had suggested that therehad been a further decline in the availability of agency staff. The latest reports by the Bank'sregional Agents had suggested that skill shortages persisted. A33 LFS unemployment had fallen by 4,000 in Q4, though the rate had remained unchanged at 5.9%. Claimant count unemployment had fallen by 44,700 in Q4, and by a further 9,800 inJanuary. The claimant count rate had fallen in January, to 4.0%. A34 Labour market inactivity had fallen by 36,000 in Q4. The percentage of the working-age inactive wanting a job had remained broadly unchanged. A35 Whole-economy headline earnings growth, a three-month moving average of the annual monthly rates, had increased by 0.6 percentage points in December, to 5.5%. This increase hadbeen accounted for by a rise in private sector headline earnings growth; public sector headlineearnings growth had remained unchanged. Headline earnings growth in both manufacturing andservices had increased by 0.5 percentage points, to 5.0% and 5.7% respectively. The twelve-month growth rate of whole-economy earnings had risen by 1.1 percentage points to 6.2%. TheONS had suggested that about half of the increase in this month's (non seasonally adjusted)Average Earnings Index (AEI) growth rate was accounted for by the financial services sector,mainly reflecting larger bonus payments than a year ago. A36 Other earnings data had offered a mixed picture. The February REC survey had indicated a rise in earnings growth for both permanent and temporary staff supplied by job agencies. TheReward index had fallen from 3.4% in December to 3.2% in January. A37 The Government had announced that the National Minimum Wage was to be uprated in October 2000. The adult rate was to be raised from £3.60 to £3.70. The youth rate was to beraised from £3.00 to £3.20 in June. A38 The Bank's AEI-weighted twelve-month mean measure of whole-economy settlements had been unchanged in January, at 3.4%. The three-month whole-economy mean had fallen by0.4 percentage points to 2.4% in January, though this was based on comparatively few newsettlements. A39 Details of the settlements for both Armed Forces staff and senior public sector workers had been announced. Overall, the paybill of both groups was to increase by 3.3%. Both increaseswould come into effect on 1 April.