by business editor Trevor Sturgess

The county's jobless total has jumped by 982 to 34,076 while national unemployment soared to a 17-year high.

The latest increase across Kent and Medway, added to a rise of 1,901 the previous month, gives a combined two-month leap of nearly 2,900, suggesting that the impact of public sector jobs cuts is beginning to be felt in the dole queue.

In Medway, the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance went up by 170 to 6,678 (four per cent) and across the rest of Kent by 812 to 27,398 (3.1 per cent).

All Kent's 12 districts saw an increase, with the worst affected areas Gravesham, Canterbury, Thanet and Tonbridge and Malling, all with treble-digit rises.

The districts with the smallest increases were Maidstone, Shepway and Sevenoaks.

Nationally, the quarterly unemployment rate to January edged up to eight per cent, with the number of people out of work up by 27,000 to a 17-year high of 2.53m. The claimant count fell by 10,200 to 1.45m.

The number of "economically inactive" people between 16 and 64 rose by 43,000 to 9.33m. The number of out-of-work 16 - 24 year olds leapt by 30,000 to a record 974,000.

The number of over-65s in work rose by 56,000 to 900,000, the highest since 1992.

There was also a record number of women claimants between 25 and 49, up 5,400 to 250,400, the highest since records began in 1997.

Graeme Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said: "Weak employment growth and earnings growth running at half the rate of inflation means that real household disposable income faces a big squeeze. This is the jobless and joyless recovery."