Unemployment figures across Kent and Medway are creeping up as, nationally, the number of vacancies continue to fall for an eight consecutive month.

In the latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), jobless numbers in the county crept up to 37,525 in the adjusted figures for January. That's a modest rise of just 80 on the December numbers.

That represents 3.3% of the population. Nationally, unemployment stands at 3.7% for the three months up to January.

However, provisional figures for February suggest figures could rise across almost all of the county's districts and unitary authority areas.

Nationally, vacancies fell by 51,000 to 1.12 million in the three months to February, while the redundancy rate edged higher.

The ONS said said the fall in vacancies “reflects uncertainty across industries, as survey respondents continue to cite economic pressures as a factor in holding back on recruitment”.

Across the county, there were rises in Ashford, Canterbury, Folkestone and Hythe, Gravesham, Medway and Swale.

Despite a small drop, Thanet remains the area of the county with the highest unemployment rates of 5.6%,, followed by Gravesham with 4.1% and Folkestone and Hythe on 4%.

The lowest are in the west of the county with Tonbridge and Malling and Sevenoaks both at 2% and Tunbridge Wells at 2.2%.

It comes ahead of the spring Budget on Wednesday, when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is expected to announce ways to encourage older workers back into the jobs market to help with the UK’s shrinking workforce.

The latest figures revealed that pay remained under pressure despite declining inflation, while the data showed that wage growth has eased back sharply.

The ONS said, nationally, total wages including bonuses lifted by 5.7% in the three months to January, with regular wages, excluding bonuses, increasing by 6.5%.

This was lower than the 6% growth for total pay and 6.7% for regular pay seen in the previous quarter.

Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the ONS, said: “The number of people neither working nor looking for a job fell overall, driven by a drop in young people.

“However, a record number of people were completely outside the labour market due to long-term sickness.

“Although the inflation rate has come down a little, it’s still outstripping earnings growth, meaning real pay continues to fall.

“However, the gap between earnings growth in the public and private sectors has narrowed sharply.”

The Chancellor added: “The jobs market remains strong, but inflation remains too high. To help people’s wages go further, we need to stick to our plan to halve inflation this year.

"Tomorrow at the Budget, I will set out how we will go further to bear down on inflation, reduce debt and grow the economy, including by helping more people back into work."