Brazil may create a record 1.8 million formal jobs this year

Brazil will create a record number of formal jobs this year as the pace of economic growth accelerates on rising domestic demand, the labor minister said.

Brazil property, Latin America's biggest economy, is forecast to create more than 1.8 million government-registered jobs this year up from the previous record of 1.62 million last year, Labor Minister Carlos Lupi told reporters today in Brasilia.

``Brazil's industry is growing and the agricultural sector too,'' Lupi said. ``There has been an increase in output in response to demand, without sparking inflation.''

Employers in Brazil do not want to create formal jobs - positions that provide all benefits, including insurance, pension and severance - because the cost of the wage bill is about twice by taxes. The growth in the more-desirable formal jobs is further evidence of economic strength in real estate of Brazil.

The number of government-registered jobs rose 39 per cent in February from a year earlier, the Labor Ministry said today. The economy created 204,963 formal jobs last month compared with 148,019 in February 2007, the ministry announced in a statement distributed from Brasilia.

The government-registered job creation number is a balance of posts created minus job dismissals. Registered jobs, the so-called formal work, assure employees a range of benefits such as unemployment insurance, bonuses and retirement payments by the government.