Lourenço Mello
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The level of formal employment - jobs with signed working papers - rose 6.55% in 2004, with the creation of 1,523,276 jobs, a record balance since the Ministry of Labor began its series, the General Register of Employees and the Unemployed (Caged), in 1992. Even so, according to information provided by executive secretary of the Ministry, Alencar Ferreira, the figures fell short of the 1.8 million target set by the Minister of Labor, Ricardo Berzoini.

In December, 2004, the number of jobs with signed working papers decreased 1.4% in relation to November. This corresponds to a loss of 352,093 job openings. This phenomenon is explained by December's being a between-harvest period for activities in the agricultural sector, the decline in industrial employment, and the termination of temporary contracts in the teaching field with the end of the school year.

Translation: David Silberstein