A new report says business activity slid further this month in Europe's 17-nation euro currency bloc, another sign that the region is virtually in a recession.

Markit Economics said Thursday that its economic index for the eurozone fell from February to March, with both months under the threshold that would indicate the currency bloc's economy is advancing. The eurozone's economy shrunk three-tenths of one percent in the last three months of 2011 and analysts in recent weeks have said the region's economy is continuing to decline.

Markit's chief economist, Chris Williamson, said the eurozone economy contracted at a faster rate this month. But he said that the downturn is “only very mild at the moment.”

European governments have struggled to boost the continent's economy even as they imposed austerity plans to resolve the two-year debt crisis and approved hundreds of billions of dollars in bailouts for debt-ridden Greece, Ireland and Portugal. The spending cuts have curtailed job growth and led to the eurozone's highest unemployment rate since the euro was introduced 13 years ago.