Taupo and Turangi also saw a spike from 773 people to 822 while Whakatane saw a slight drop from 1136 to 1126.
Beneficiary numbers for the Supported Living payment in Rotorua had also increased, while Sole Parent Support recipient figures fell from 2607 last year to 2478. A combined category classified as "other main benefits", including the Emergency Maintenance Allowance, among others, decreased from 152 recipients to 73.
Bay of Plenty regional commissioner for Social Development Mike Bryant said it was encouraging to see fewer people in the region receiving the Sole Parent Support.
"Sole Parent Support numbers are expected to reduce again over the next few months as we approach the busy hospitality, retail and tourism seasons," he said.
"Benefit numbers tend to fluctuate over three monthly quarters. The winter period often has [fewer] jobs available.
"The Rotorua labour market has been steadily improving and will continue to do so. Now is a good time for those employers looking to recruit as we have a pool of work-ready people available," Mr Bryant said.
Local recruitment agencies and human resource companies say they have noticed an increase in people looking for work.
Consultant for Personnel Resources Jenna Cruickshank said jobs were available in Rotorua.
Her company specialised in helping fill all levels of office administration work. The company had offices throughout the Bay of Plenty with 14,000 candidates on its database.
"There [are] a lot more people looking for work, there are still redundancies happening ... so there's a whole lot of people looking and in terms of candidates, there is a lot more competition, making it bit more tougher," she said.
"But accountants are always in demand and every business needs a good administration so there are roles out there. I think businesses are feeling more confident and are taking on a permanent staff member. Maybe they're looking better economically."
Miss Cruickshank said her number one piece of advice to jobseekers was making sure they had a good CV.
"Spend time writing your CV. If there's a job coming up, don't just type out a CV in 10 minutes and send it in. You need to view it as a marketing brochure. There needs to be something in there that stands out," she said.
"They [employers] literally could have 50-plus CVs on their desk and really have a short time to read them."
Human resource and recruitment specialist at Talent ID Olivia Burman said there was a demand for highly skilled people for positions like engineering but there were still jobs available in clerical and administration work.
"A few companies of late have gone into receivership causing redundancies so there are higher numbers of people who have been made redundant seeking employment," Miss Burman said.
"There seems to be a lot more jobs available in administration roles. Perhaps business is picking up overall or there [are] more duties and they need the extra support. They may have had increased profits and are able to afford part-time work. There is a bit of demand in the part-time area but that's always been the case to cover things like maternity leave. Also heading into summer there may be demand from retail and cafes. A lot of them would target the school leavers," she said.
"There aren't enough jobs for [tertiary] graduates, especially those with no experience. But my main advice, and I did this myself, is to go into a graduate opportunity paid or unpaid to get your name out there. You need to physically seek work.
"Companies do offer graduate positions over the summer period and I do know Rotorua companies offer this."
Ministry of Social Development benefit figures for Rotorua from the September quarter
Benefit/Sept 2014/Sept 2013
Jobseeker 3590 3308
Sole Parent Support 2478 2607
Supported Living Payment 1560 1432
Other Main Benefits 73 152
