Sixteen jobseekers are chasing every vacancy in Gravesham, according to a think tank.

The North West Kent borough has achieved an unenviable joint third place in the UK’s job hunting blackspots.

TheInstitute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North ranked Gravesham joint third among the nation’s pockets of job misery.

Only two areas of Scotland (West Dunbartonshire with 20 job seekers for every vacancy) and Clackmannanshire (19) fared worse.

Eight other places tie with Gravesham in having 16 people seeking every vacancy, including Hartlepool, Lewisham and the Isle of Wight.

Even Northern cities like Liverpool and Bradford do better than Gravesham, with eight and seven people respectively chasing every vacancy.

The national average is four, with better figures (one or fewer) in Crawley, Cambridge, South Bucks, North Warwickshire, Harborough, Daventry and the City of London.

IPPR North argues that the Government should extend its new youth contract to give a jobs guarantee for everyone unemployed for more than a year in the areas hardest hit.

Ed Cox, director of IPPR North, said: "The government’s youth contract is a step in the right direction to help tackle the unemployment problem but more needs to be done to help the areas of the UK where people are really struggling to find work.

"The government should guarantee a job for everyone who has been unemployed for more than a year paid at the minimum wage, targeted at the worst affected areas first but then rolled out everywhere."