by business editor Trevor Sturgess

Recession continues to destroy jobs across the county, with a further 540 people joining the dole queue last month.

The number of people out of work and claiming benefit in Kent and Medway stood at 34,732. That’s an increase of 173 in Medway and 367 across the rest of Kent.

All parts of the county saw a rise in unemployment, with the biggest increases in Maidstone (up 100), Swale (up 71) and Thanet (up 65).

Nationally, the quarterly rate of unemployment stood at 7.1 per cent, up 0.8 per cent on the previous quarter.

The number of unemployed people went up by 244,000 to 2.22 million. That is 592,000 higher than a year ago. It was the largest quarterly increase in the unemployment level and rate since 1981.

The national claimant count was 1.51 million in April 2009, up 57,100 over the previous month and 710,700 higher than a year ago. The claimant count has not been higher since August 1997.

Redundancies rose by 27,000 to 286,000, up 175,000 over the year. This is the highest figure since comparable records began in 1995.

There were 455,000 job vacancies in the three months to April 2009, down 51,000 over the previous quarter and down 232,000 over the year. These are the lowest vacancy figures since comparable records began in 2001. All sectors have shown falls in vacancies over the quarter with the largest fall occurring in finance and business services (down 17,000).

The number of people in public sector jobs rose by 15,000 to 5,78m, while thodr in the private secot fell by 13,000 to 23.6m.

People unemployed for more than a year rose by 53,000 to 506,000 in the three months to March. Unemployment for 18 to 24 year olds was 676,000, up 60,000.

Average earnings including bonuses fell by 0.4 per cent in the three months to March 2009 compared with the previous year. This negative annual growth rate is unprecedented since comparable records began in 1991 and is mainly due to lower bonuses in the financial sector

Jobless figures on April 9: Kent and Medway combined, 34,732 (up 540); Medway, 6,808 (up 173), Rest of Kent, 27,924 (up 367); Ashford, 2,025 (up 47); Canterbury, 2,432 (up 42); Dartford, 1,901 (up four); Dover, 2,311(up 13); Gravesham, 2,583 (up 24); Maidstone, 2,413 (up 100); Sevenoaks, 1,498 (up 53); Shepway, 2,453 (up six); Swale, 3,157 (up 71), Thanet, 4,058 (up 65); Tonbridge and Malling, 1,660 (up 34); Tunbridge Wells, 1,433 (up 50).