Formal job generation breaks record in the 1st two months of 2008
Folha de S. Paulo - 03/19/2008
The formal work market presented record expansion in the first two months of 2008. In the first two months of the year, the number of new formal jobs reached 347,884 posts, which represents the best result for this period since 1992. The balance was 37% above that registered in the January-February period of 2007. In the evaluation of the Ministry of Labor, the performance of the formal market in the next months (March, April and May) will be even better, since it is traditionally a period of strong employment stimulation. In the calculations of Minister of Labor, Carlos Lupi, 2008 must generate the record figure of 1.8 million formal jobs. Last year, the best year concerning the number of hired employees, 1.617 million jobs were created. Not even the financial crisis that is rocking the global markets shakes the minister's optimism. The data concerning formal jobs published yesterday are part of Caged (General Registry of Employment and Unemployment). The survey is published by the Ministry of Labor every month since 1992. All hired employees are included, except house workers. Only in February 204,963 jobs were generated. The number is the best for the month in the historical series of Caged. Every sector of the economy provided positive balance. The sector of services stood out with the generation of 74,441 jobs followed by the processing industry, with the generation of 46,812 jobs. Hiring in the educational segment, with the end of the school vacations was the main reason for the progress of the jobs in the sector of services. The industry was influenced by the hiring in the segments of food and beverage and machinery. Among the regions, the balance was only negative for the Northeast region, due to the end of the sugar-cane cycle, which has affected the sugar and alcohol sector.