This article investigates whether the trade liberalization introduced in Brazil by the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s affected the structure of employment and wages. We use manufacturing sector data from 1987 to 1998 and found evidence that neither the decrease of import tariffs nor the higher trade flow affected the employment shares and inter-industry wage premia. We show that these results are due to the very high stability of employment shares and relative wages.