left government would pump 2 billion euros (2.7 billion dollars) of public funds into highway and railway building. A 250 million euro package of direct aid to long-term unemployed was also unveiled in Schroeder's speech. Adolf Rosenstock, a European economist at the Frankfurt-based office of Nomura International Analysts, warned that Schroeder's past and coming reforms will only have an impact in Germany in the long- term and that there is no fast cure to the current jobs misery. "It's a long haul," said Rosenstock, adding: "It could take years, if not decades." Germany's economy, which grew by 1.6 per cent last year after three years of stagnation. Schroeder's jobs creation package is seen as a last-ditch bid to show the government is serious about bringing down unemployment before general elections next year in which the German leader is seeking a third term for the centre-left alliance of his SPD and Greens. The Chancellor's high-profile jobs speech is also linked to the faltering regional re-election bid of the Chancellor's SPD in the key state of North Rhine-Westphalia on May 22. ---SP 2351 Local Time 2051 GMT
