Employment in the euro zone dipped in the third quarter of 2009, highlighting the fragility of economic recovery.

The data agency Eurostat disclosed that the number of people in employment between July and September 2009 fell by 721,000 in the 16-member economic union to 144.8 million.

In addition, the statistics bureau revealed that employment in the 27-nation European Union declined by 1.019 million to 221.6 million.

This contraction follows a similar decline in the second quarter of 2009 and a fall of 0.7 per cent between January and March earlier this year.

Jennifer McKeown, economist at Capital Economics, suggested that jobs are lagging behind the economic rebound recorded in the region.

She told Reuters: "The third quarter's 0.5 percent drop in employment confirms that the recovery elsewhere in the economy has yet to feed through to the labor market."

Earlier this week, a survey released by Eurobarometer revealed that the majority of EU residents believe that employment is the main barrier to economic recovery.