ALL is not well in the labour market as a further 1,200 people joined the county’s dole queue in February.

It was the second steep rise in consecutive months.

In January, the jobless total soared by 1,488. In February, it leapt by 1,184, a dismal two-month tally of 2,672.

The county total of 23,107 is 4,254 higher than the same time a year ago - 955 up in Medway (4,653) and 3,299 (18,454) in the rest of Kent.

In Medway, 242 new people signed on, with a further 942 in the rest of Kent.

Triple-digit increases in Canterbury, Maidstone, Shepway and Swale underlined the depth of the problem.

While ministers tried to play down the significance of the statistics, they show that the jobs market is tightening, even though the number of vacancies and people in the workforce increased in February.

Nationally, the claimant count went up 14,600 to 919,700.

The unemployment level was 1.53 million (five per cent) in the quarter ending January 2006, up 37,000 from the previous three months.

The number of people unemployed for more than 12 months was 325,000, up 29,000.

Average earnings increased by 3.8 per cent, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous month.

The number of manufacturing jobs has fallen by 111,000 to 3.08million in the past year.

Claimant count on February 9: Kent and Medway, 23,107 (up 1,184); Medway, 4,653 (up 242); Rest of Kent, 18,454 (up 942); Ashford, 1,082 (up 26); Canterbury, 1,680 (up 110); Dartford, 1,185 (up 36); Dover, 1,885 (up 86); Gravesham, 1,814 (up 93); Maidstone, 1,410 (up 101); Sevenoaks, 734 (up 16); Shepway, 1,872 (up 136); Swale, 2,205 (up 102); Thanet, 2,898 (up 67); Tonbridge and Malling, 905 (up 96); Tunbridge Wells, 784 (up 73).