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Construction industry loses 93.6 thousand workers and 564 enterprises in 2017
May 29, 2019 10h00 AM | Last Updated: May 29, 2019 02h40 PM
The construction industry lost about 93.6 thousand employed persons and closed 564 enterprises between 2016 and 2017. In the same period, the value produced by real estate development, works and/or services fell 9.6%, retreating to R$280 billion in nominal terms. The data are from the Annual Survey of Construction Industry - Paic, released today (29) by the IBGE.
"The scenario of low growth, economic instability and institutional uncertainties has been inhibiting the investments, and the [construction] sector lost dynamism in the last years", analyzes Fernanda Vilhena, manager of the IBGE Structural and Special Surveys.
Indeed, the results of the Gross Domestic Product - GDP in 2017 show that the investment, measured by the gross fixed capital formation, dropped 2.5%, being construction the component with the highest weight.
As examples of the reduction in the investment, Vilhena highlights the disbursements in infrastructure by the Brazilian Development Bank - BNDES, which strongly retracted in 2015 and 2016, despite the slight nominal increase in 2017. In addition, home loans also dropped significantly between 2016 and 2017, with a reduction in the number of units funded.
A good part of this retraction reflected in the segment of infrastructure, which lost share in the value of real estate development, works and/or services over the last years. On the other hand, building construction gained representativeness. Between 2008 and 2017, the share of the segment of infrastructure fell from 47.4% to 32.2%, whereas that of building construction increased from 37.2% to 45.8%.
Vilhena explains that these numbers follow the decrease in the share of the public sector as a client in the generation of value of works. "From 2008 to 2017, the share of the public sector dropped for the industry as a whole, yet mainly in the sector of infrastructure, which depends a lot on the public investment".
Personnel employed in construction is the smallest since 2008
Concerning employment, the construction industry employed about 1.9 million persons in 2017, registering a drop of 4.7% in relation to 2016. This is the smallest contingent of employed persons since 2008, when about 1.8 million persons were employed in the construction sector.
All the segments posted a drop in the average number of employed persons. Nevertheless, the segment that mostly lost share between 2008 and 2017 was also that of infrastructure works, which had the biggest average size and the highest average wage.
"In the share in employment, the segment of infrastructure was surpassed by that of expert services, which consists of smaller enterprises, like that of finishing, painting and plumbing, which pay lower wages. In other words, the jobs that gained share were exactly those associated with lower wages, changing the employment profile in the construction", concludes Vilhena.
