By GEIR MOULSON
Associated Press
Wed, February 2, 2005

BERLIN - German unemployment hit a new post-World War II high in January, passing the politically sensitive 5 million mark for the first time in Europe's biggest economy, government figures showed Wednesday.
 

The unadjusted jobless rate in Germany rose to 12.1 percent, with 5.037 million people out of work in the nation of 82 million, as a new benefit system swelled the ranks of the registered jobless, the government's Federal Labor Agency said. The total rose by 573,000 from December.