"Business's won't hire people due to the high cost of benefits and the inability to fire..or they hire on a contract basis if they must."
What is their unemployment rate?
BERLIN - Germany's jobless rate rose to nearly 11 percent in December, the government's labor office said Tuesday, the same day that France said its growth stalled in the third quarter.
The number of Germans out of work was 4.464 million in December — 206,900 more than the previous month and an increase of 149,200 from December 2003. The unadjusted jobless rate spiked to 10.8 percent from 10.3 percent in November, the Federal Labor Office said.