The government's Work Programme has created only 170 jobs in Barnsley in one year - at a cost of more than £350,000 for each job.
Of the 4,700 applicants in the borough in the 12 months before July this year, only 3.6 per cent went on to find a job.
Nationally, the government has spent £436m on the programme - to date in Barnsley it has cost £356, 490 per job.
The scheme has been heavily criticised by Barnsley MPs Dan Jarvis and Michael Dugher, who both say it is failing to get people back to work and is nowhere near as effective as the scheme it replaced.
This week Mr Jarvis questioned the Work and Pensions Minister, in the House of Commons, about the Government’s action on jobs.
He has previously compared the results of the Work Programme with the Barnsley-inspired Future Jobs Fund, which was designed by Barnsley Council leader Steve Houghton and adopted by the last Labour Government.
That scheme had a 33 per cent success rate of people across the borough getting into permanent jobs.
The MP asked the minister if he understood why constituents in Barnsley Central have more faith in the scheme that originated in Barnsley, rather than the programme which replaced it.
Coun Steve Houghton said: "Look at the figures, the government's work programme has a success rate of 3.5per cent, the Future Jobs fund had a success rate of 33 per cent - there is simply no comparison."
