German unemployment soared to a new post-World War II high in January, with a record 5 million people out of work for the first time _ pushing the jobless rate to 12.1 percent, government figures released Wednesday showed. Economics and Labor Minister Wolfgang Clement described the figure as "dramatically high." He had cautioned that the January figures would be swollen as a result of a new jobless benefit system, introduced Jan. 1, that requires social welfare recipients who are able to work to register as unemployed. Those changes could add several hundred thousand to the number of people officially counted as unemployed. The unadjusted jobless rate was up from 10.8 percent in December, the Federal Labor Agency said, with a total of 5.037 million people out of work _ 573,000 people more than in January last year. The previous record was set in January 1998, when 4.824 million people were out of work. This January's jobless rate fell short of the record reached then of 12.6 percent.
