Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced Tuesday record job placements in the first quarter of 2009, praising small businesses in the Bronx for offering employment.

Speaking at Jimmy Jazz, a clothing store located at Bay Plaza, Bloomberg said nearly 5,000 jobs were created citywide, 1,400 of them in the Bronx thanks to NYC Workforce1 Career Centers.

The mayor said because of extended hours of operation on nights and weekends at the career centers, a greater number of job seekers throughout the five boroughs were able to find employment.

During Tuesday's announcement, the mayor was accompanied by Melissa Perez, who was unemployed for 10 months before she visited a Workforce1 center in Hunts Point. She was later offered a job as an assistant manager at Jimmy Jazz.