Pembrokeshire's Assembly Members fear that figures revealing there are up to four people chasing every job in the county are just the tip of the iceberg.
New figures revealed that in Preseli Pembrokeshire there were four job claimants for every vacancy. In South Pembrokeshire there are two.
It was also revealed last week that there are nearly two million people unemployed in the UK – 98,000 of them in Wales.
"With more than 900 jobseekers chasing only 261 jobs in Preseli Pembrokeshire the situation seems bleak," said Preseli Pembrokeshire Assembly Member Paul Davies.
"What makes it even more worrying is that these figures were gathered in November and the economic situation has got worse since then.
"The Government's decision to close the driving test centre in Haverfordwest may lead to jobs being lost to the county and we are also coming to the end of the LNG construction projects and so I would expect the jobless figures to go up.
"Unemployment is rising faster in Wales than in other parts of the UK and we need to reduce employment costs for small businesses by cutting National Insurance and by giving a tax break for new jobs."
Angela Burns , South Pembrokeshire's Assembly Member and Shadow Welsh Regeneration Minister, added: "The UK now has a higher unemployment rate than countries such as Slovenia, Romania, Malta, Holland, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, so for the employment minister to be talking about "light at the end of the tunnel" as he did on Thursday (20th Jan ) is crass and insulting.
"We are hearing about previously successful businesses such as Sir Benfro Bakery in Whitland that are choosing to close before they get into serious debt."
I also have over 20 businesses that have been to see me to talk about their individual situations. These are not incompetent businesses. They are simply facing forces beyond their control, ruthless banks and a government that talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk.
"I fear that these figures are the equivalent of just the tip of the iceberg that our economy is sailing towards."