by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Job numbers across Kent and the South East are unlikely to rise this year despite a "fragile" recovery in the region's economy.

An economic review by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) says that employment is unlikely to start growing again until 2011.

But it found that redundancies had fallen significantly and the labour market had begun to stabilise from the middle of 2009. It said the rate of unemployment had slowed down.

However, the jobless tally in Kent and Medway since the turn of the year has risen by more than 2,300.

The review found that men had fared worse than women during the recession, with a faster fall in employment and a marked rise in unemployment. In February, 3,642 men were out of work in the county compared to 1,408 women.

There has also been a significant increase in longer-term unemployment among people aged 18-24 compared to other age groups.

Firms across the region have warned that they would be unlikely to weather another downturn or the double-dip recession forecast by a number of pundits.

The review strikes a more positive note on manufacturing, saying the sector delivered a strong performance with the volume of new business increasing at its fastest rate for more than two years.

And economic and employment growth is projected to be faster in the South East than the UK average as the economy picks up.

Paul Lovejoy, SEEDA's executive director for strategy, said: "Future prospects for growth in the South East are promising, although the recovery remains fragile.

"The South East economy is expected to return to growth in 2010 and business confidence has dramatically improved during the last quarter.

"However there has been an increase in the number of companies reporting that they would be unlikely to weather any further downturn."

He added: "Firms throughout the South East are reporting improvements in the business climate and there are signs of investment picking up amongst regional companies."