Berlin, Sep 1 (DPA) Unemployment in the 16-member eurozone hit a 10-year high in July, data released Tuesday showed.

The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said that another 167,000 people were unemployed in the eurozone during July, pushing the jobless rate up to 9.5 percent from 9.4 percent June.

But the data also showed that the pace of the increase in unemployment as slowing.

At the start of the year, the numbers jumped by more than 500,000 as the global recession tightened its grip on the currency bloc's economy.

However, more recently key economic indicators have pointed to growth in the eurozone gaining traction in the run-up to the end of the year with the region's two biggest economies - Germany and France - emerging from recession during the second quarter.