Aécio Amado
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - Women's participation in the labor market increased in the country's six major metropolitan areas in 2005. Data from the Monthly Employment Survey, released yesterday (26) by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), show that, overall, women hold 43.7% of the jobs in the six areas.

The data reveal that, whereas men still constitute the majority on the labor market (56.3% in 2005), between 2003 and 2005 the female percentage increased, from 43% in 2003 to 43.4% in 2004 to 43.7% in 2005.

Salvador was the metropolitan area with the highest rate of female labor market participation last year: 45.5%. Over the last two years, the city of São Paulo registered the largest average growth in women's labor market share: 10.1%. Rio de Janeiro was the metropolitan area with the lowest rate of female labor market participation in 2005: 42.7%.

Translation: David Silberstein