The latest unemployment figures reveal numbers continue to fall across the county as the economy recovers from the impact of the pandemic.

The Office for National Statistics figures reveal 850 stopped claiming Universal Credit during December across Kent and Medway, reducing the total number making a claim to 47,750. That's the equivalent of 4.4% of the population and a drop from 4.9% on November's adjusted figures.

And it suggests the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid - which rocketed last month - did not have a negative impact on jobs.

The county's figures are broadly in line with the national picture, which revealed in the three months to November the unemployment rate fell back almost to where it was pre-Covid, to 4.1% from 4.2% in the previous quarter and close to the 4% level seen in the last pre-pandemic quarter.

The ONS said the number of people employed nationally is now 1.4%, or 409,000, above levels seen before Covid.

In Kent, no district saw an increase in their rates, although Gravesham's figure of 3,305 (equivalent of 5.1% of those of working age) was the same as that seen in November.

The county has seen a steady decline in claims since February 2021.

The biggest drop was in Tonbridge & Malling where 100 came off the claims count - a drop of 4.6% on the month before.

Canterbury saw the next biggest drop as the claimant count dipped by 130, a drop of 3.5% on November.

Other areas seeing a significant drop was Ashford and Swale, both down 2.7%, and Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells, which dipped 2.4%.

The highest rates of unemployment remain in Thanet, with 7.3%, followed by Folkestone & Hythe and Gravesham, both on 5.1%. Medway is on 5%.

The lowest claimant count in terms of the percentage of the working population is, perhaps not surprisingly, dominated by the west Kent districts of Tonbridge & Malling (2.6%), Tunbridge Wells (2.8%) and Sevenoaks 2.6%).

In the three months to November, the unemployment rate fell back almost to where it was before Covid-19 hit

Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “The number of employees on payrolls continued to grow strongly in December, with the total now well above pre-pandemic levels.

“New survey figures show that, in the three months to November, the unemployment rate fell back almost to where it was before Covid-19 hit, and those reporting they’d recently been made redundant fell to their lowest since records began more than a quarter of a century ago.

“However, while job vacancies reached a new high in the last quarter of 2021, they are now growing more slowly than they were last summer.”

There are concerns, however, that a skills shortage could impact on Kent's workforce going forward with the situation being described as among the worst in the county.

Kent County Council (KCC) was last week told of a county-wide skills shortage, particularly in sectors like agriculture, construction, engineering and science.

Reasons include graduates moving out of the county for higher pay in London, and a lack of training within existing jobs.

Economic consultant Ross Gill, an associate director of economic research firm SQW, said: “We still have an ongoing deficit of high level skills in Kent and Medway.

“The trajectory is right and has been moving in the right direction for many years, but there is still a gap between the county and the rest of the country.”

KCC’s economic development committee, a panel of councillors who met at County Hall in Maidstone on Thursday, was told an action plan was being created to look at the situation more closely.

Cllr Sir Paul Carter (Con), who was a former KCC leader for 14 years, suggested sweeping reforms needed to be made from top to bottom.

He said: “The whole system is so flawed, no wonder the economy of this country struggles to keep up with the rest of the western world.

“Go to Germany and the USA and it is a completely different ballgame. Why can’t we learn from some of the examples of skills and training programmes they have to support commerce and industry?”

KCC Labour county councillor Mel Dawkins said she was “saddened” that the county’s skillforce was among the lowest level in the UK. She said: “Let’s make an effort to bridge that gap.”

Suggestions to improve employment skills include investing more money at school level to focus on studying subjects for industries of greatest need and to retrain the existing workforce in key sectors.

Broadstairs county councillor Rosalind Binks (Con) recommended a “culture change” taken at primary and secondary school level to improve skills.

She said: “Schools are the most important part of the whole because they develop the culture and the drive for children. I think working with employers is useful, but you have to start below.”

The first draft of KCC’s action plan will likely be published in March.