The unemployment rate in the 16 countries using the euro climbed to a 10-year high of 9.5 percent in May, according to official EU data released on Thursday.

Some 273,000 jobs were lost across the eurozone in May as the unemployment rate rose to the highest point since May 1999, the European Union'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.