Berlin, Feb. 2 (Reuters): Germany?s jobless total rose above 5 million in January for the first time since the 1930s, a labour office source said yesterday, highlighting the main threat to Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder?s 2006 re-election bid.

The surge was mainly due to new benefit rules that force all social welfare claimants to register as unemployed.

But the politically sensitive figure of 5 million underlines how little progress has been made in solving Germany's biggest economic problem since Schroeder came to power in 1998 pledging to halve unemployment from some 4 million.

Despite some signs of improving sentiment, big German companies including industrial giant Siemens AG and Deutsche Bank have continued to shed jobs.