Maidstone has suffered a sharp rise in unemployment as the credit crunch continues to bite, according to latest figures.

The total number of jobless people in the borough stood at 1,170 in August, an increase of 131 or 11.2 per cent since July.

The County Town was one of only three places in the county to have a three-figure rise, along with Canterbury and Thanet.

The total number of jobless people in Kent was 18,667 in August, an overall increase of 1,207 on July.

Even prosperous West Kent saw a steep increase in claimant numbers, up 92 in Tonbridge and Malling, 60 in Sevenoaks and 76 in Tunbridge Wells. In Swale there are 1,689 people undemployed, an increase of 89.

The official statistics underline the seriousness of the economic downturn, with several Kent-based employers announcing job cuts in recent weeks. Especially hard hit have been estate agents and conveyancing staff laid off because of the housing slump. Retailers have also felt the impact of the credit crunch.

Car dealership Dutton Forshaw in Maidstone said this week that up to 60 jobs will go with the break-up of the business. Other employers are known to be cutting staff numbers on a piecemeal, lower profile basis.

The same dismal picture was repeated across the UK, with the claimant count rising by 32,500 last month to 904,900. The quarterly unemployment rate went up by 81,000 to 1.72 million.

At the same time, the employers’ organisation the CBI forecast that unemployment would smash through the two million mark next year.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) predicted that the number of people out of work for a year or more would rise by 300,000 to around 700,000.

The CBI also predicted that the country would go into recession, which is defined as two months in a row of negative growth.

Director of CBI South East Malcolm Hyde said: "Over the past year our forecasts for economic growth have been shaved lower and lower as the UK economy continues to struggle with the twin impact of higher energy and commodity prices and the credit crunch. Growth in 2009 will be feeble at best.

"Having experienced a rapid loss of momentum in the economy over the first half of 2008, the UK may have entered a mild recession that will hopefully prove short lived. This is not a return to the 1990s, when job cuts and a slump in demand were far more prolonged."