Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- European Commission President Jose Barroso called unemplopyment the “most painful” symptom of the debt crisis and pledged to “press hard” to boost jobs in the region.

“The steep rise in joblessness across our union is the most painful social symptom of this economic crisis,” Barroso said today in a statement in Brussels. Barroso and European Union President Herman van Rompuy are meeting today with labor and employer leaders in Brussels.

“I want our next country-specific recommendations to address the plight of young people in every one of our Member States,” Barroso said in the statement. “We will also continue to press hard for reforms to remove structural obstacles to employment. The roadmap we have presented ahead of the European Council also proposes growth-enhancing measures capable of creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jones Hayden at jhayden1@bloomberg.net