Bonn Reports Record Unemployment: Bonn Joblessness At Postwar High As Elections Near
BONN, March 3ÛÓIn a gloomy report that could influence the outcome in West GermanyÛªs elections Sunday, the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl announced today that the countryÛªs unemployment rate rose in February to a record postwar level of 2.54 millionÛÓ10.4 percent of the work force.</br></br>While the prospects of deploying modern nuclear missiles have aroused heated debate during the campaign, the pocketbook issues of how to revive a weak economy and curtail joblessnessÛÓwhich has grown faster here in the past two years than in any other Western European countryÛÓhave	generated public</br></br>Although stressing that the February report did not produce the ÛÏhorror figuresÛ some people had expected, Josef Stingl, president of the Federal Labor Office, admitted that ÛÏwe will look worse at the end of this year than we did at the end of 1982.Û</br></br>Until now, generous welfare benefits have eased the burden of the unemployed. But the next government, regardless of the party that leads it, may face the unpopular task of slashing these payments because of a huge budget deficit and pessimism that increasingly antiquated West German industries can spark a resurgence in exports.</br></br>charged that they inherited a dismal economic situation caused by 13 years of Social Democrat-led governments. A number of opinion polls indicates that this campaign theme has worked, as a majority of people believe the Christian Democrats would prove more adept at handling the economy than their rivals.