UNEMPLOYMENT in Kent and Medway rose by 500 in November.

The surprisingly big leap, mainly due to more people joining the dole queue in East Kent, took the jobless total to 19,947.

The number of people out of work in Medway went up 50 to just over 4,000, or 3.6 per cent of the workforce.

Across the rest of the county, a further 450 people signed on, taking the tally to 15,925 (two per cent). The latest increase follows a 156 rise in October.

There were treble-digit rises in Dover (up 116) and Swale (up 130), with Thanet close behind at 91. There were rises of 73 in Canterbury and 45 in Shepway.

Other parts of the county fared better, with unemployment down 40 in Dartford and 55 in Maidstone. Nationally, the claimant count rose 10,500 to 902,000.

The Government’s preferred quarterly measure stood at 1.49 million in the three months to October, up 72,000 from the previous period.

While alarm bells may have started to ring on the short-term jobless front, there was a little optimism for the long-term unemployed. The number of people out of work for more than 12 months fell by 6,000 to 296,000.

However, young people are finding it increasingly hard to find a job, with unemployment among 18 to 24 year olds up 52,000 to 472,000 in the quarter ending October.

Another disturbing sign was the 6,000 drop in job vacancies to 600,200.

Average earnings went up by 3.9 per cent in the three months to October, down 0.1 per cent.

The number of people employed in manufacturing continued to fall, with the quarterly figure of 3.1 million down 115,000 on the same period a year earlier.

Jobless figures on November 10:

Kent and Medway: 19,947 (up 500)
Medway: 4,022 (up 50)
Rest of Kent: 15,925 (up 450)
Ashford: 939 (up 15)
Canterbury: 1,460 (up 73)
Dartford: 1,051 (down 40)
Dover: 1,631 (up 116)
Gravesham: 1,496 (up 34)
Maidstone: 1,173 (down 55)
Sevenoaks: 650 (up one)
Shepway: 1,563 (up 45)
Swale: 1,889 (up 130)
Thanet: 2,664 (up 91)
Tonbridge and Malling: 751 (up 16)
Tunbridge Wells: 658 (up 24).