Fewer people claimed unemployment benefits in Kent last month, official figures show - but the overall the jobs picture in the county remained relatively unchanged.

Figures out this morning show 18, 270 were claiming jobless benefits in the county in November - that's a fall of 130 on the month before.

Across the country as a whole the UK jobless rate stayed at 4.8% - an 11-year low - for the three months to October. However, the number of people in work has dropped by 6,000 to 31.762 million, the first fall since the second quarter of 2015.

And the number of people claiming unemployment benefit has gone up again, by 2,400 in November, to 809,000.

While the decline was small, it was said by officials that the job market “appears to have flattened off in recent months".

However, there's was good news for people in work though as today's figures showed that average weekly earnings - excluding bonuses - rose by 2.6% year-on-year in the three months to October, up from 2.4% last month. Pay including bonuses rose by 2.5%, up from 2.4%.