Brasília, 3/8/2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - According to a report from the International Labor Organization, the number of women in the job market rises every day, but the unemployment rate for women remains high while their salaries continue low. The ILO says that 60% of the 550 million poor workers in the world are female.

The ILO report also says that the progress of women in obtaining high-level positions is "slow, unequal and, at times, discouraging."

The report, entitled "Global Employment Trends for Women 2004", says that in 2003, 40% of workers were women; a total of 1.1 billion out of 2.8 billion. That is an increase of 200 million in the last decade.

The reports says that in Latin America and the Caribbean, the unemployment rate among women is 10.1%, compared to 6.7% for men. (AB)