Flávia Albuquerque
Reporter - Agência Brasil

São Paulo - Employment levels in the São Paulo industrial sector remained practically stable in May, rising only 0.45%, compared to April. According to a bulletin released this week by the state Industrial Center (Centro das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo - Ciesp), a total of 9,497 new jobs were created in May. That brings the cumulative total of new jobs for 2006 to 55,818, an increase of 2.67%.

The Ciesp director of Economy, Boris Tabacof, described the result as "mediocre," adding that although jobs were added the number was very low compared to what the sector can and should be doing. "Anyway you look at it the May job performance was weak," he declared. Tabacof went on to say that the May performance does not seem to indicate anything for the future. "It just does not inspire confidence. We have to wait and see what happens over the next few months."

Translation: Allen Bennett