The increase in joblessness, the first since October, was mostly due to a rise in unemployment in the services sector, marking the end of the busy Christmas period. The number of people out of a job in the sector rose 2.68 percent, or by 76,744 workers.
That was partially offset by a fall in joblessness in construction by 7,857 people, or 1.45 percent, the ministry figures showed.
The number of jobless was down by 288,744 people in January from a year earlier, or by 6 percent.
In seasonally-adjusted terms unemployment fell by 42,723 people month on month.
The total number of people paying in to the social security system fell to 16.58 million by the end of January, down 1.2 percent from a month earlier.