The number of people on the dole in Kent has dropped by more than 1,000 for the fifth time in six months, as the total nationally fell below the one million mark for the first time since September 2008.

There were 1,042 fewer Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants in August, bringing the county’s total number to 21,109, according to the Office for National Statistics.

It is also the fifth time in six months in which every local authority has seen a fall in its claimant count. The only blip was Shepway seeing a rise of 34 last month.

Thanet had the highest fall, down 222 to 3,245, recording its sixth three-figure drop in a row and second above 200 in that period.

It is down by 1,217 people compared to the same time last year.

Medway, usually Kent’s highest faller, watched 176 people leave its dole queues, although it still has Kent’s highest year-on-year fall, down 1,613.

Three figure reductions were also seen in Dover, down 132 to 1,583, and Shepway, down 131 to 1,560.

Swale saw its claimant count dip below 2,000 for the first time since October 2008, falling by 78 to 1,989.

Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Gordon Henderson said he is “delighted” that joblessness numbers in Swale have fallen below the milestone for the first time since before the economic crash.

But he warned against complaceny with the good news.

He said: “We need to understand the statistics don’t always reflect the actuality, and that is some of the of those jobs are part-time.

“We don’t want to say that because we’ve gotten below 2,000 we have actually succeeded – our next target is to get them to fall below 1,000.”

“We need to understand the statistics don’t always reflect the actuality, and that is some of the of those jobs are part-time..." - MP Gordon Henderson

Aside from a drop of 72 in Maidstone to 1,332, the rest of the falls in the county were more modest.

Canterbury fell 56 to 1,246, Gravesham was down 49 to 1,519 and Dartford down 45 to 1,043.

Traditionally affluent parts of Kent had the lowest falls, with Tunbridge Wells down 21 to 546, Sevenoaks down 17 to 707 and Tonbridge and Malling down eight to 872.

The South East had the lowest unemployment rate in Great Britain at 4.4%. It also had the lowest claimant count rate at 1.6%.

Nationally, the unemployment total fell by 146,000 to 2.02m in the three months to the end of July, putting the unemployment rate at 6.2%.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance across the country fell by 37,200 to 966,500.