More out of work

The number of jobless people in the county rose by 2.5 per cent, leaving 6,511 people claiming benefit in August compared with 6,352 in July.

In July, the number of jobless had increased by 47 people on figures for June - the first rise since March.

Worcester echoed the county's figures with a 2,4 per cent rise, leaving 1,817 residents out of work and claiming benefit, compared with 1,774 in July.

But Worcester MP Mike Foster dismissed the "minor blip".

"In itself this is not unusual," he said. "Clearly, because of economic stability, we have had one million new jobs in the country and unemployment at its lowest for nearly 20 years.

"Overall I'm confident. All the evidence suggests businesses are still coming to Worcester. It's still an attractive place to live and work."

In Herefordshire, the picture was bleaker, with the unemployment rise almost doubling to 4.6 per cent.

Figures released today showed 1,932 people were without a job last month, compared with 1,847 the previous month.

Leominster recorded an 8.4 per cent rise in the number of unemployed between July and last month.

A total of 297 people in the Herefordshire market town found themselves out of work, compared with 274 the month before.

Figures for Kidderminster showed 1,310 people without a job and claiming benefit, compared with 1,268 in July - a 3.3 per cent rise.

Unemployment also jumped 3.2 per cent in Hereford. The number of people out of work in the city stood at 1,472 in August, Government statistics showed.

The rise slowed in Malvern, which had 572 jobless in August compared with 562 the month before.

Only Evesham - which between June and July was blighted by rising unemployment - bucked the trend, recording a 0.2 per cent fall.

A total of 443 people were out of work and claiming benefit last month, compared with 444 the previous month. The fall takes the total back to June's figure.

In the West Midlands as a whole there was a 2.7 per cent increase in unemployment between July and August.