THE region's jobless total has fallen by 11,000, but the impact of recent redundancies is yet to be felt, experts warned yesterday.

Nationally, the total number of people looking for work rose by 29,000 in the three months to February.

Data from the Office For National Statistics showed the claimant count stands at 1.43 million.

It was the first time the unemployment rate and claimant count both increased in the same month, since last September.

But the region bucked the trend and saw some of the biggest reductions in those claiming jobseeker's allowance.

In the North-East, the total dropped 5.4 per cent, from 75,000 to 64,000. The claimant count for Yorkshire and the Humber fell 15,000 to 101,000, a drop of 4.1 per cent.