Irene Lôbo
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - 198,837 new formal jobs (with signed working papers) were created in May. According to data from the General Registry of Employment and Unemployment (CAGED), released yesterday (21) by the Ministry of Labor, this increase represents a growth of 0.75% in relation to the existing total of formal jobs in the country. Nevertheless, the increase was smaller than in April, when 229,803 new formal jobs were added.

May's increase was also smaller than in May, 2005, when 212,450 new formal jobs were created. So far this year the cumulative total of new formal job posts comes to 768,343, nearly equal to last year's figure of 770,767 for the first five months of the year.

The economic sectors with the best performance in this area in May were agriculture, with 55,077 new jobs; services, with 52,335 new jobs; manufacturing, with 48,764 new jobs; commerce, with 21,080 new jobs; and construction, with 16,282 new jobs.

Translation: David Silberstein