Approximately 1.5 million new registered, on-the-books, jobs were created in 2005 in Brazil, according to information just released by the Brazilian government.
"That is slightly down from the record growth of jobs in 2004, but it is still very positive. There was strong expansion in services, commerce and manufacturing," explains Remigio Todeschini, secretary of Employment Policy at Brazil’s Ministry of Labor.
While the number of jobs rose, the unemployment rate for the last five consecutive months has been stable at 9.6%, down from 10.6%, the 2004 average. That means that around 220,000 fewer people are unemployed today than in November 2004,
Todeschini points out that Brazil’s unemployment rate is near the world average, after falling 3 percentage points over the last three years.
"For further improvement, we need more education and professional training. And that means more investments," he said.
ABr