German economy

Spotted this in the print edition of the Washington Post, which I can't seem to find online:

Employment in Germany is not rising as fast as the number of people claiming unemployment benefits is falling, however. Last year, the number of jobs that contributed to social-security funds was consistently down from 2004. Employment and vacancies fell fractionally in November. Much of Germany's recent decline in unemployment is due to state-sponsored or subsidized job schemes.

"What we're seeing is, at best, stagnation," said Thorsten Polleit, an economist at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt.

Compassionate European socialism at work!