A protester at the picket line wears a written helmet without layoffs during a demonstration in Spain.
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The unemployment rate in the euro zone reached 7.4% in May, as the region is dealing with the Covid-19 economic shock.
It comes after several European economies took their first steps to reopen in May, which has allowed some workers to return to their jobs. However, social distancing measures that remain in force and ongoing travel restrictions limit the pace of recovery.
The unemployment rate in the 19-member region rose to 7.4%, the worst reading since November last year. According to the European statistical office, the number means that 12.146 million people in the euro area were unemployed in May.
Youth unemployment, ages 15-24, also rose to 16% in May, from 15.7% in April.
Some economists expect much worse unemployment figures as governments reduce benefit schemes. At the height of the sovereign debt crisis over the past decade, the euro area experienced an unemployment rate of just over 12%.
Speaking on Friday, the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, said that the world could have passed the worst of the pandemic, although she warned that there is a risk of a second wave of infections.
The ECB forecast an 8.7% contraction in gross domestic product in the euro area for all of 2020, followed by a rebound in economic growth of 5.2% in 2021.
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