Unemployment in Kent, excluding Medway, rose by one in August.

Medway saw dole queues drop by 106 last month, taking the total fall for Kent and Medway to just 105 - a total of 31,494 claiming jobseekers allowance.

The slight fall bucks the national trend, where the claimant count - those out of work and receiving unemployment benefit - rose by 2,300 in August to 1.47 million.

The picture across the county was a mixed one, with seven areas seeing rises and just six seeing falls.

The biggest rise in unemployment was in Gravesham, where 29 people joined the dole queue, taking the total to 2,307.

This was followed by a rise of 25 in Tunbridge Wells to 1,176, an increase of 18 in Tonbridge and Malling to 1,418, a rise of 16 in Shepway to 2,413, an increase of 11 in Ashford to 1,745, a rise of eight in Thanet to 3,923 and an increase of four in Canterbury to 2,077.

Medway's fall of 106 to 6,328 was the largest in the county, followed by a drop of 40 in Dover to 2,005, a fall of 24 in Maidstone to 2,157, a drop of 23 in Swale to 2,868, a fall of 19 in Sevenoaks to 1,178 and a drop of four in Dartford 1,899.

The slight overall fall this month means that since August 2009, the total number of dole claimants in Kent has fallen by 3,487 from 34,981 to 31,494.

The country recorded the biggest quarterly rise in employment on record, rising by 286,000 on the quarter.

There are now 7.8 per cent of the population claiming the dole - that is 2.5 million, or a slight fall on the previous month.