German Jobless Lacking Flexibility

A new survey has found that the majority of Germany's record 5.2-million jobless are unwilling to change towns and cities for a new job. The survey carried out by pollster Infratest dimap for German daily Die Welt, polled a 1,000 unemployed Germans. The majority -- 63 percent -- said they saw no reason to change their city to look for a job. According to the survey, 45 percent said they were ready to accept commuting hours of several hours for a new job while 54 percent were against it. The pessimism continued in their attitudes towards the political situation with 66 percent believing that right-wing parties would gain more support if the present woes in the labor market persisted. 43 percent said that a crucial reason for the high unemployment was foreigners who took away jobs. The survey also found that 43 percent rated their chances of getting a job as very low, another 29 percent as low -- this despite the fact that every second jobless person claimed that he was trying hard to get a new job.