The number of people out of work and claiming the dole in the Westcountry has surged ten per cent in the last year, official figures have showed.

The UK’s jobs “crisis” worsened when the national unemployment rate reached a 16-year high and new figures show a record number of people working part-time because they cannot find full-time positions.

Devon and Cornwall recorded a sharp rise in joblessness in the aftermath of the Christmas upturn and as the squeeze on consumer spending hit the key tourism and leisure industries.

Across the two counties, 32,565 people claimed Jobseeker’s Allowance in January, up by 2,185 (or 7%) on December and an increase of 3,210 (up 10%) compared with the same month last year.

Tim Jones, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Business Council, said: “If we were going to pick the lowest point for our part of the world, then it is now.

“Businesses have got bills coming in and we have not got the tourism and leisure trade because people don’t have the disposable income that usually shores us up at this time of year. But there is also a sigh of relief that things haven’t slipped further.”

Regional unemployment is at its worst in Torbay, where 4.9% of the area’s work age population claim the benefit. The rate is 4% in Plymouth, 3.3% in Cornwall and 2.4% in the rest of Devon. The national average is 4.1%.

Nationally, women’s unemployment increased to its highest level for more than 20 years, youth joblessness continued to rise and Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants increased for the 11th month in a row.

The Government said the unemployment figures showed that despite continuing economic challenges, the labour market was stabilising.

Welfare Reform Minister Lord Freud said: “The latest figures show some encouraging signs of stability despite the challenging economic climate.”

Labour and trade unions attacked the Government amid warnings that a generation faced the jobs “scrapheap”.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “These figures are bad, although thankfully not quite the disaster we saw at the end of last year.

“With one in three jobseekers looking for work for over a year, and around six unemployed people for every job, the Government’s mantra that there are plenty of jobs out there just doesn’t ring true.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband said: “Month after month, we see unemployment rising and we see a Government which has dangerous complacency and simply carries on as it is with an economic strategy that is not working.

“It is a tragedy that so many young people are out of work in this country.

“We should be offering them real hope.

“We say tax the bankers’ bonuses and use that money to create real jobs for young people.”

Unemployment jumped by 48,000 in the quarter to December to 2.67 million, a jobless rate of 8.4%, the worst figure since the end of 1995, although the smallest quarterly rise since last summer, the Office for National Statistics reported yesterday.

In the six-county South West, unemployment was down 13,000 to 165,000, giving the region a jobless rate of 6.1%. It is the lowest regional rate in the UK, suggesting the region – taking in cities including Bristol and Gloucester – is weathering the economic downturn better than others.

Jobseeker’s Allowance claimants rose by 6,900 in January to 1.6 million, the eleventh consecutive monthly increase, while women claiming the allowance increased by 1,500 last month to 531,700, the highest figure since the summer of 1995.

A record number of people are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs – up by 83,000 over the latest quarter to 1.35 million.

Employment increased by 60,000 to 29 million, mainly due to a rise of 90,000 in the number of part-time employees to 6.6 million.