The number of people in Sussex on out-of-work benefits is back on the rise, figures revealed today.

Statistics from the Department for Work and Pensions showed 30,621 people across the county claimed Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) in July - up by 173 from June.

The increase will deal a blow to hopes that Sussex would recover from the recession faster than other parts of the UK, after figures published last month showed every part of the county had recorded a fall in claimants between May and June.

A breakdown of the figures revealed that in several parts of the county - Lewes, Wealden, Eastbourne, Hastings, Rother and Chichester - the number of people on JSA has continued to fall.

However, most local authority areas - Brighton and Hove, Adur, Worthing, Arun, Crawley, Horsham and Mid Sussex - found their claimant counts rising between June and July, leading to a county-wide increase.

Brighton and Hove recorded the largest monthly rise, from 7,192 to 7,338, the figures showed.

The overall rise in jobless benefit claimants locally was in line with the picture nationally, where the number of people claiming JSA increased by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million - its worst level for more than 12 years.

Meanwhile, UK unemployment rose by 220,000 to 2.44 million in the three months to June, according to the Office for National Statistics, taking the jobless rate to 7.8%.

Mark Harper, Shadow Work and Pensions Minister, said: "Unemployment is fast becoming the most pressing social economic and political problem plaguing Britain.

"Disturbingly, there are now nearly one million young people unemployed, cast adrift by a government sleepwalking through this crisis. These figures can only tell half the story. Behind them lie the shattered lives of millions."

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson admitted that unemployment levels were "unacceptable" but claimed even more people would be out of work if the Tories had been in power during the recession.

The peer told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "One thing I and the Government know is that any such level of unemployment is unacceptable.

“The question is, what is the Government doing about it, and what would be the level of unemployment if the Government had not intervened in the economy in the way in which we have?"

Lord Mandelson - currently "minding the shop" in Downing Street while Gordon Brown takes a holiday - said £5 billion was being spent on getting people back into jobs, whereas the Conservatives wanted to cut state investment in the economy by a similar amount.