The jobless rate in the euro area reached the highest on record as the festering debt crisis and deepening economic slump prompted companies to cut jobs.

Unemployment in the economy of the 17 nations using the euro reached a revised 11.2 percent in May and held at that level in June, the European Union's statistics office in Luxembourg said today. That's the highest since the data series started in 1995. In Germany, unemployment climbed for a fourth straight month in July, a separate report showed.

Policy makers are weighing options to counter the turmoil that has forced five euro-area nations to seek external aid, eroded investor confidence and pushed companies to trim their workforces. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, who met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner yesterday in Frankfurt, has pledged to do everything to preserve the euro.