THE TREND in unemployment in Kent has continued to improve. In the three months from April to July, 2010 the number of unemployed in the county fell by 3,286, or 11.5 per cent, to 25,165.

Thanet again topped the list for the area with the highest level of claimants at 5 per cent. This compares with 1.9 per cent in Tonbridge and Malling and 1.7 per cent for both Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.

A general view of a Job Centre in Northwich, Cheshire, as unemployment surged past two million for the first time in 12 years today, while the number of people signing on for benefit soared by a record 138,000 last month, grim new figures showed today. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday March 18, 2009. The Government was hit by a raft of gloomy news, with redundancies reaching a record high, jobs and vacancies falling and more people claiming jobseeker's allowance. See PA story INDUSTRY Une

Official statistics show that the trend in Sussex was slightly superior with a reduction in the number of unemployed across the county down from 30,562 to 26,719, or by 12.6 per cent, over the same three month period. The highest level of claimants was found in Hastings at 5.6 per cent which compares with the lowest, Wealden, at 1.4 per cent.

The South East saw a 13 per cent reduction in unemployment compared with an 8.5 per cent drop throughout Great Britain as a whole. Claimant levels were 2.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.