Latest figures show unemployment has jumped by 14.5 per cent in just one month.

Almost 1000 more people are without a job than a year ago – three per cent of the working age population in the Falkirk Council area.

There are now 2872 people unemployed, up 296 on the previous month and 959 on the same time last year.

Now politicians are calling for action to halt the dramatic rise and help people find employment.

Many believe the Falkirk area is paying the price for being a popular commuter town with lower cost housing, lower Council Tax and good transport links attracting people out of the cities during the past decade.

But, as the credit crunch hits many major employers across the Central belt, residents in this area are experiencing the backlash.

Douglas Duff, the council's head of economic development, said the district was "starting to feel the impact of the downturn".

He said: "All aspects of the construction sector are really starting to feel the affect, while a lot of people commute out of the area.

''Although our redundancy numbers have not been as largescale as other areas, because of the number of commuters, people are really beginning to find things tougher."

Earlier this month, Falkirk Council adopted a 12-point action plan to help businesses cope with the "significant challenges" of the current economic crisis.

Mr Duff added: "No-one would be foolish enough to be optimistic but we need to be upbeat and resilient. Our aim is to get people working together and pooling resources."

Disappointed that Falkirk's unemployment rate was above the UK and Scottish figure of 2.8 per cent, SNP Group leader Councillor David Alexander said: "We were bucking the trend five years ago by being below the national average, but now we seem to have been hit harder than most, which is very worrying.

"There is a number of things local authorities should be doing and one is building more council housing which would help the construction industry.

''The plans for 100 new council houses in Falkirk over four years is just not enough."

Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie said she was concerned at the number of local builders who were being forced to lay off staff because they had no work.

She said: "More money needs to be spent on building social housing which would benefit local companies and their workforces."

Michael Matheson, Falkirk West MSP, said the latest figures were "very disappointing".

He said: "Unfortunately no-one seems to be immune from the downturn in the economy.

''For many years, a lot of hard work saw Falkirk stay below the national average for unemployment but that has changed and it is important as much as possible is done to reverse this current trend."