Unemployment in the county continues to fall with reductions in all but one of the county's districts.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveals the number of people in Kent claiming Universal Credit during November dropped by 875 on last month's adjusted figures to 49,365. That equates to 4.4% of the county's population.

It has been declining month-on-month since February.

The figures are broadly in line with the national picture which saw the unemployment rate fall to 4.2% in the three months to October, which is the lowest rate since spring 2020 and down from 4.3% the previous quarter.

The ONS said the number of people employed nationally is now 424,000 or 1.5% above levels seen before the pandemic struck.

And it once again seems to confirm the big job losses feared as the government's furlough scheme concluded at the end of September, have not materialised.

The only district in the county to see an increase in claims was in Canterbury which saw a 1.4% rise in claimants.

All other districts continued the declines - the most dramatic of which was in Gravesham, which saw a 3.7% drop and neighbouring Dartford which recorded a fall of 3.7%. Much of that is likely to be down to the opening of the Amazon depot in Dartford.

Other notable falls were in Medway (down 2.5%), Sevenoaks (2.3%), Tonbridge and Malling (2.2%) and Tunbridge Wells (2.2%).

Thanet remains the area with the highest number of claims (7.5% of its population) followed by Medway at 5.1%.

The lowest percentage of claims are made in Tonbridge & Malling and Sevenoaks (2.7%).

Nationally, vacancies also jumped to another new record – up 184,700 to 1.22 million between September and November, though there were signs of the recruitment crisis easing as the ONS reported an 80,000 drop month-on-month – the first fall since February.

But it comes amid fears over the impact on the economy of the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus and new restrictions to control Covid-19.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak called on Britons to get their booster vaccinations, with concerns growing that more restrictions may be needed.

He said: “To keep safeguarding our economic recovery and the lives and livelihoods of the British people, I am now calling on everyone to keep playing their part and get boosted now.”