Twice as many people are out of work in Oxfordshire as a year ago, new figures revealed today.

The recession is now seeing skilled workers and managers joining the dole queue as the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance hit 6,906 — 1.7 per cent of the working population — in January.

That is the highest figure since May 1997, when Tony Blair’s Labour Government came to power.

One of the reasons for the hike was the closure of Woolworths, with the loss of 323 jobs and 50 from BMW.

The jump of 1,104 people since the previous month is the biggest increase in a single month since March 1991, when the number leapt from 10,919 to 12,124.

Yesterday experts predicted the jobless total would rise further.

Ian Kessler, university reader in employment relations at the Said Business School, said: “There is a lag factor at work here as some employers are completing orders from before the downturn — which suggests that we haven’t seen the worst of it yet.”

Commenting on the manufacturing side of Oxfordshire’s economy, Mr Kessler said it was important that skilled workers should be retained on shorter hours rather than be made redundant.

The managing director of the county’s largest building firm, Leadbitter of Abingdon, Bob Rendell, added: “The years 2010 and 2011 are where the trouble lies.

“It takes two years to get a large building project up and running.”

Tory leader of Oxfordshire County Council Keith Mitchell said: “Oxfordshire has a lot of middle class people like managers and bankers with high mortgages to pay.

“And many of these are losing their jobs.

“We started a Job Club in Banbury and more than 200 people turned up on the first day. Now we plan to open one in Oxford too.

“One man visiting the club was a highly skilled technician in his late 50s.

“Many potential employers were interested in him but then found that they could no longer afford to take him on.”

Among those looking for work is Blain Austin, from Queensway in Didcot. The father of Kayley, 16, and 14-year-old Natalie was made redundant from his job as a van driver at Scope, based in Brackley, in September.

In the past month, the 49-year-old has applied for 50 jobs.

Mr Austin said: “There are quite a lot of people I know that are in the same boat, and they have more qualifications than I have.

“I think because there are so many unemployed, employers can be more picky.”

Mr Austin’s partner Jenette Easton, 47, works 60 hours a week as a care worker at Brook House Residential Care Home, in Didcot, to support the family while Mr Austin is out of work.

He added: “I haven’t been out of work since I was 16.

“Christmas this year was very very difficult. It was a struggle, but my partner luckily was offered more overtime.”

Andrew Spencer, 41, of Trinity Close, Bicester, used to work in a warehouse for the Ministry of Defence, but has been out of work for eight months.

Outside the Oxford Job Centre in Worcester Street, Oxford, he said: “There is just nothing around at the moment.

“It doesn’t help that I have to pay my travel all the way in from Bicester to come here either.

“I’m not fussy – I will take anything at the moment.”

Father of two Said Noreyn, 34, of Rose Hill, lost his job of five years last month at the BMW plant in Cowley.

He said: “I have been trying everything. I am not the sort of person who enjoys sitting around and claiming benefits.”

Fully qualified teacher Marie Catto, is looking for work while she waits for a teaching role.

She said: “I think the size of the problem has been blown out of proportion, and the more people talk about how bad things are, the more wary employers are about taking people on.”BMW, the county’s largest private employer, has recently made 430 agency workers redundant and is shutting its Cowley plant for all of next week.

It is seeking financial help from the Government.

BMW spokesman Rebecca Baxter said: “Discussions with the Government are ongoing.

“We are continuing to seek clarity on what sort of Government assistance might be available.”

Jonathan Reynolds, of the Oxford Institute of Retail Management, pointed out that with people on short-time working, or redundant, many consumers might cut their High Street spending.

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