São Paulo, 6/9/2006 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Employment in the São Paulo manufacturing sector rose 0.7% in May, compared to April. That works out to an additional 15,000 job openings.

The São Paulo Manufacturer Federation (Fiesp) reports that for the year jobs in the sector are up 3.6%, which means 74,000 new workers. Fiesp says it expects total employment in the sector to expand by 4% for the year.

"The numbers are clearly positive. However, they remain modest compared to what we would like to see," declared the director of the Economic Department at Fiesp, Paulo Francini.

Translation: Allen Bennett