The economic crisis is taking a huge toll of jobs in the county as more than 2,600 people signed on last month.

The number of people out of work and claiming benefit across Kent and Medway soared to 24,797, an increase of 2,639 over the previous month.

The jobless total in Medway went up by 443 to 4,950, or 3.1 per cent of the workforce.

Across the rest of Kent, a further 2,196 joined the dole queue, pushing the countywide total up to 19,847, or 2.4 per cent.

The seriousness of the situation in the county is underlined by a near-12 per cent increase in the claimant count, compared to a national increase of 8.4 per cent.

All Kent’s 12 districts suffered steep increases, with only Tunbridge Wells (up 75) escaping a three-figure rise.

Five districts suffered rises of 200 or more - Canterbury, Dover, Gravesham, Swale and Thanet.

The latest figures were taken on December 11, before a spate of layoffs in the past few weeks fed through into the statistics.

Redundancies towards the end of last year and this month (Jan) across retail, services, finance and manufacturing are likely to send numbers shooting up again next month. (Feb)

Nationally, the claimant count soared to its highest level for nine years, and the quarterly rate to its highest level since September 1997.

The claimant count increased by 77,900 to 1.16m, the worst figure since January 2000. It has shot up by 349,000 over the year.

By the Government’s preferred quarterly measure, unemployment rocketed by 131,000 to 1.92m - 6.1 per cent - in the three months to November. This is the highest figure since September 1997, pushing up the annual rise by 290,000 over the year.

The percentage of the workforce out of a job rose by 0.4 per cent to 6.1 per cent. Experts predict that these figures are bound to rise over the next few months and unemployment could reach three million by the end of the year. Some even believe it will go up to 3.5m if the recession is as long as many fear.

The number of people in work fell by 26,000 to 29.39 million. While there has been a fall over the quarter of 89,000 people in full-time employment, the number of people in part-time employment has increased by 63,000.

The unemployment rate was 6.1 per cent for the three months to November 2008, up 0.4 over the previous quarter and up 0.9 over the year. The last time the rate was higher was in the three months to April 1999 (when it was 6.2 per cent).

The number of people made redundant in the three months to November 2008 was 225,000, up 78,000 over the quarter and up 101,000 over the year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

There were 530,000 job vacancies in the three months to December 2008, down 69,000 over the previous quarter and down 153,000 over the year. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001.

Jobless figures for Kent and Medway on December 11: Kent and Medway combined, 24,797 (up 2,639); Medway, 4,950 (up 443); Rest of Kent, 19,847 (up 2,196); Ashford, 1,313 (up 181); Canterbury, 1,772 (up 216); Dartford, 1,218 (up 108); Dover, 1,848 (up 200); Gravesham, 1,847 (up 229); Maidstone, 1,551 (up 177); Sevenoaks, 916 (up 126); Shepway, 1,915 (up 168); Swale, 2,381 (up 296); Thanet, 3,165 (up 299); Tonbridge and Malling, 1,101 (up 121); Tunbridge Wells, 911 (up 75).