Exeter saw a jump in the number of people on the dole last month, official figures show.
The city's jobless total rose by more than 100 from 1,871 in December to 1,977 in January. However, this is down on the 2,312 Jobseeker's Allowance claimants recorded for the same month last year.
Surrounding districts also saw increases on the month.
In East Devon the claimant count went from 1,187 to 1,286 in January, and in Teignbridge from 1,506 to 1,602.
And in Mid Devon the number of people on Jobseekers Allowance rose from 887 to 925.
Across the county, the total number of claimants rose by 545 to 9,818 from December to January. This figure is still 1,161 lower than in January 2012.
Unemployment across the South West fell by 6,000 to 150,000 in the quarter to December, giving a jobless rate of 5.5 per cent, which remains the lowest in the UK, according to the Office for National Statistics
Across the UK, almost 30 million people were in work at the end of 2012, an increase of 154,000 on the quarter to September, and the highest total since records began in 1971.
Unemployment, including those not eligible for benefit, fell by 14,000 in the final quarter of last year to 2.5 million - 156,000 lower than a year ago.
But youth unemployment increased by 11,000, the highest rise for a year, and the number of people with more than one job increased by 41,000 to 1.1 million.
The number of people classed as economically inactive, including long-term sick, people looking after a family or those who have given up looking for work, fell below nine million, the lowest figure since the autumn of 2006.
The ONS also reported a continued cut in the real value of pay, with average earnings increasing by 1.4 per cent in the year to December, down by 0.1 per cent on the previous month. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 1.3 per cent, the lowest figure since the end of 2009.
The ONS noted that CPI inflation was running at 2.7 per cent last year, with the annual growth in weekly wages staying below inflation since the middle of 2008.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith pointed to figures showing a 15,000 fall in the number of people out of work for over a year, to 879,000.
He said: "The fall in long-term unemployment is particularly welcome and shows that the training and support we are offering is helping people move off benefits and into work.
"These figures show another big increase in full-time jobs, half a million more British people in work over the past year and more women in employment than ever before."
Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, said: "That we have mass unemployment of two and a half million five years into this recession is waste on a grand scale. To this must be added the millions in enforced temporary and part time jobs and those massively underemployed. What is tragic is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel as we are in the middle of a triple dip recession."
