by Martin Jefferies

Almost one in five households in Kent is now without any work, according to a new study.

Research by the GMB union reveals there are nearly 100,000 jobless households in the county – 18% of the total.

Excluding Medway, the county has 78,900 homes where at least one person is of working age with no employment whatsoever (17.9%).

Medway itself has one of the highest rates of workless households in the south east at 19.2%. Only the Isle of Wight and Southampton fare worse.

Richard Ascough, the GMB's regional secretary, said: "The Tories famously claimed that 'if it's not hurting then it's not working'. It's high time they learned that if someone doesn't have work it hurts. It hurts the person, it hurts their families, it hurts their communities and it hurts our economy.

"There's a massive shortage of jobs as these figures show. A first step is to stop the public sector job cuts in the pipeline.

"Policies that increase employment are the only sure fire route to recovery. The sooner we start on a new course the better."

Across the UK, 18.9% of all households are without work – a total of 3.8m.

Last month saw another rise in unemployment in Kent, with the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance now at nearly 36,000.

The GMB's figures include the unemployed but also count the retired, sick and disabled, as well as those looking after family members.