Official EU figures show that the unemployment rate in the euro zone climbed to a 10-year high of 9.5% in May. 273,000 jobs were lost across the euro zone in May, the EU's Eurostat data agency estimated.
Although activity in the recession-hit European economy is beginning to pick up, many companies are continuing to cut jobs in order to survive the worst post-war downturn.
The May unemployment rate was up from 9.3% in April and 7.4% in May 2008.
In the 27 nations of the EU, the unemployment rate rose in May to 8.9%, hitting the highest level since June 2005 as 385,000 jobs were lost.
Eurostat estimated that in total 21.5 million people were unemployed across the EU in May, of which 15 million were in the euro area.
