Nearly 90 people left the dole queue in Kent last month.

There were 16,550 jobseekers claiming unemployment benefits in November, according to the Office for National Statistics.

A decline of 181 in Medway was the biggest change across the county, leaving it with 3,490 people claimants.

However, this was offset by a rise of 102 in Dover, where 1,200 are on the dole.

There were also rises of 38 in both Canterbury and Shepway to 1,030 and 1,215 respectively.

The picture across the rest of the county was mainly of falling numbers of claimants.

Swale recorded a fall of 75 to 1,735, with Dartford down 55 to 700, Thanet down 40 to 2,200 and Tonbridge and Malling down 33 to 685.

Maidstone’s claimant count dipped 18 to 1,115, Gravesham fell eight to 1,230 and Tunbridge Wells flatlined at 465.

Moderate increases of 10 in Ashford and nine in Sevenaoks left their totals at 960 and 535 respectively.

In the three months to October, unemployment fell by 37,000 across the South East to 170,000.

The unemployment rate for the region was 3.7%, down from 4.6%.

Nationally, there were 1.71 million unemployed people in the three months to October, down 110,000.

The unemployment rate was 5.2%, down from 6% for a year earlier.