The county's jobless total has fallen slightly in line with national trends, but Oxford continues to harbour a higher pocket of unemployment in males.

In January, 4,332 people in the county were claiming jobseekers' allowance, compared with 4,349 in December. The county's unemployment rate remains unchanged at 1.1 per cent -- one of the lowest in Britain, according to National Statistics.

However, in Oxford 1,282 men are claiming benefit -- 2.6 per cent of the working population -- compared with 360 women. The figures in December were 1,289 and 389.

Cherwell, which was once an unemployment blackspot, was the only area to see a rise, with claimant numbers up from 858 to 876. There were falls in South Oxfordshire (730), Vale of White Horse (620) and West Oxfordshire (464).

Nationally, unemployment continues to fall to near record lows, but more jobs are being lost in the manufacturing sector.

The number of people claiming unemployment-related benefit fell in January for the eighth month in a row, down by 13,400 to 892,100, the lowest for almost 30 years.

The monthly fall was the biggest since the summer of 2001 and the claimant count is now 40,300 lower than a year ago.

Total unemployment fell by 21,000 in the three months to December to 1,459,000.