Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that the State has to have a "new role" to guarantee employment since technological advances mean that companies do not generate as many jobs as they did in the past.

Brasilia, September 15 (RHC)-- Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday that the State has to have a "new role" to guarantee employment since technological advances mean that companies do not generate as many jobs as they did in the past.

"The State will have to have a new role; we will have to discuss what is the role of the State to guarantee employment," said Lula during a meeting with representatives of cooperatives in the State of São Paulo.

The leader of the Workers' Party (PT) and presidential candidate of the left said he intends to make government investments to induce diversification of the economy and stressed the impact of the changes in recent years.  "Technological advances do not create jobs for people; they create more productivity, more wealth, more productive capacity, more conditions to earn money and accumulate in the hands of one person, decreasing the number of people who do manual labor," Lula remarked.

The leftist leader also said he intends to re-create the Ministry of Agrarian Development and the portfolios of Culture, Micro and Small Business and Public Security.  The first round of the Brazilian elections will be held on October 2nd, and Lula starts as the favorite ahead of the current president, Jair Bolsonaro, in all opinion polls.