KARL Heinz Menzel is a healthy 50-year-old Berliner with more than 20 years experience as a fitter. For the past five years he has spent most of his time shopping and helping around the house. Since he was laid off by the Reemtsma cigarette firm in 1992, he has sent dozens of applications to companies throughout Berlin, all to no avail.
"Nothing but rejections. For heaven's sake, am I really condemned to idleness at 50?" he asks.
Stories like Mr Menzel's are increasingly common in Germany as Europe's powerhouse economy endures its worst unemployment crisis in living memory. The number of Germans out of work hit a post-war record of 4.66 million this week - a staggering 12 per cent of the workforce.
There are now three times more Germans on the dole than in 1990, when the Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, promised that national unification would produce "blossoming landscapes" for everyone.
The latest unemployment figures shocked government and opposition politicians alike, - representing a leap of almost half a million in a single month. Dr Kohl presented an upbeat message yesterday that his target of halving unemployment by 2000 was still attainable.
"I'm not saying that we'll reach it exactly but the trend has to be in this direction. I'm certain that the trend will turn this year."
Mr Rudolf Scharping, parliamentary leader of the opposition Social Democrats, claimed the jobless figure underlined the need for a sharp change of direction in Bonn's economic policy.
Dr Kohl's government has been under growing pressure since the beginning of the year, as the chancellor attempts to push through ambitious reforms of the tax and pension systems. The political crisis is so profound that Dr Kohl's future is now in doubt as members of his own party openly defy his authority.
The record jobless figure, which is expected to rise again next month, threatens Germany's efforts to fulfil the strict economic criteria for entry to a single European currency. Bonn recently adjusted its estimate of this years' budget deficit to 2.9 per cent of GDP, just inside the upper limit permitted for entry to the new currency. Higher unemployment will drive the deficit upwards, forcing the government to raise taxes or cut public spending.
With one of the highest personal tax rates in the world, Germans are unlikely to accept further tax rises and a swathe of spending cuts last year produced howls of protest. The labour minister, Mr Norbert Blum, who has been bickering with the chancellor about pension reform in recent weeks, said the only solution to the jobs crisis was concerted action by Germany's social partners. "Employers, unions and government can only find a solution together, - not against one another."
But as deepening economic gloom turns to popular anger, there seems little prospect that his words will be heeded.
