HIGH employment is becoming a major problem for Dartford's businesses. That is the view of Andy Brown, branch manager at Manpower Dartford.

"The unemployment figures for Dartford are extremely low. This is fantastic news for the people of Dartford but is proving bad news on local industrial estates," he said. "The ever-increasing demand for quality industrial candidates and the decreasing availability of local candidates for local industries is creating a real problem for Dartford.

"Manpower Dartford has introduced a minimum wage of £5.50 per hour, 10% above the market average. The improved wage and the benefits we offer are succeeding in attracting more qualified workers, but local industries need to attract even more workers to the area."

He said: "We need a constant flow of people to come into Dartford to help maintain local business productivity and hope that these benefits can attract them. Manpower is the biggest employer of industrial staff in Dartford.

"Instead of there being no jobs, there are plenty - we're in a rather unusual position."