Unemployment has shot up across Kent amid fears that there is worse to come.

The property slump and other economic woes are now feeding through to the jobless figures, with 131 more claimants in Medway and 377 in the rest of Kent, a combined increase of 508.

The latest figures were released just two days after a survey found that a quarter of firms are preparing to lay off workers in the next few months.

They confirm widespread fears that unemployment, which has been relatively low across Kent and Medway for the past few years, will rise steeply because of the downturn and credit crunch affecting most businesses.

Construction firms have already laid off workers, and professional services have already been hit by the property slump. with Kent-based estate agents and at least one law firm getting rid of staff.

Jo James, chief executive of Invicta Chamber of Commerce, covering 1,200 businesses in Ashford, Maidstone, Canterbury and West Kent, said the jobs situation had been fine until about four weeks ago but since then there were signs that jobs were being affected by the downturn. Some members had reported that they had made people redundant.

"It doesn’t surprise me when I look at the figures because it is tough out there and I think people are cutting their cloth accordingly," she said. "I don’t like being pessimistic but I think it is going to get tougher. "

She urged firms to look to cut other costs before making people redundant. But it was important to maintain activities like marketing. "There are still people wanting your services out there and you’ve got to be seen. If there is an upturn, you’ve got to make sure you’re ready and able to make the most of it."

Nationally, the number of claimants rose by 20,100 in the month to July 10 to 864,700. The quarterly unemployment rate showed a rise of 60,000 to 1.67 million, an increase of 0.2 percentage points to 5.4 per cent.

Most of Kent’s 12 districts showed a rise, with only Canterbury (down 10) and Shepway (down 11) bucking the trend.

Unemployment figures on July 10