Unemployment in Teignbridge has more than doubled in the past five months.
According to the latest government figures the constituency now has 1,714 people claiming Jobseekers Allowance.
That amounts to 2.7 per cent of the workforce.
Last October the figure was just 880, or 1.4 per cent.
Looking back to last June, the best month in recent years, just 544 people were signed on but since then the figures have steadily climbed.
The picture significantly worsened in October since when approximately 200 people have joined the list. Last month the rate escalated again with almost 300 extra people signing on.
Teignbridge MP Richard Younger-Ross said the figures belied any claims of green shoots in Devon's economy and called on the government to 'supply some fertiliser to the job market'. He told the Advertiser: 'They've got to bring funding forward from groups such as the Learning and Skills Council projects for South Devon College.
'Then there is the Kingskerswell bypass which would be a major construction project, although I appreciate there are processes to follow in that case.
'What we need to be doing is actively identifying schemes which are nearing completion or which could be accelerated if the funding was available and that it is what I will be doing.
'The latest unemployment figures are a dramatic increase and the human cost is devastating.
'In my own career as an architect I have known major downturns such as in 1981 when I ended up working in Iraq as there was nothing available here.
'I know the pain unemployment brings.'