German jobseekers face long, cold winter as unemployment tops postwar high

FRANKFURT (AFP) — Freezing temperatures and changes in the way the monthly jobless statistics are compiled pushed German unemployment to another postwar high of 12.6 percent in February.

And with growth of the eurozone's biggest economy only sluggish, the five million-plus people on the dole in Germany could turn out to be a political time bomb for the government as it faces a key regional election in May, analysts here said.

German unemployment topped 5.216 million -- or 12.6 percent of the workforce -- in February, the highest level since World War II, the Federal Labour Agency in Nuremberg calculated on Tuesday.

That represented an increase of 177,000 from January, when unemployment had already risen above five million for the first time since the war.

In fact, in absolute terms, the February jobless total is the highest in 73 years, even if the situation in Germany ...