Via the New York Times:
FRANKFURT, March 1 - Unemployment in Germany, which crossed above the politically charged five million mark in January, rose again in February, to a rate of 12.6 percent with 5.2 million people out of work, the Federal Labor Agency said on Tuesday.
The unemployment rate, the highest since World War II, rose from 12.1 percent in January. Germany's economy has slumped recently, contracting 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter.
A bitterly cold winter put an unusually large number of construction employees out of work, but another reason for the high numbers was a statistical change to now count able-bodied recipients of social welfare payments as unemployed.
"As expected, the number of registered unemployed again rose markedly in February," Frank-Jürgen Wiese, the head of the Federal Labor Agency, said in a statement.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder battled last year to pass the most thorough overhaul of unemployment benefits in decades, and the changes took effect on Jan. 1. Joblessness has risen since, and Mr. Schröder's Social Democrats face a crucial state election in May.
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