Volume of services grew 1.7% between May and June, accruing a gain of 4.4% in the last three months. As a result, the sector not only got farther from the pre-pandemic level, since it is 2.4% above February last year, but also reached its highest level since May 2016. These are data from the Monthly Survey of Services - PMS, released today (12) by the IBGE.

Volume of services advanced 21.1% over June 2020, the fourth positive rate in a row. In the cumulative index in the year, the sector grew 9.5% over the same period a year ago. Having changed the 12-month rate from –2.1 in May to 0.4% in June, it maintained the upward trend started in February this year (-8.6%). Even with that advance, the sector is still 9.1% below the historical record, achieved in November 2014.

The performance of the sector in June was leveraged by all the five activities investigated, highlighted by information and communication services (2.5%), which peaked its time series. Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (1.7%) and services rendered to families (8.1%) also stood out in the period.

The following activities exerted minor impacts on the overall index: professional, administrative and complementary services (1.4%) and  other services (2.3%), which registered a cumulative growth in the May-June period of 3.6% and 3.5%, respectively.

“Although all the activities have advanced, this result is mainly due to a whole set of services that either benefited from the pandemic or was not affected by it. They are more dynamic sectors, more focused on innovation, more based on capital than in workforce, which managed to re-position taking advantage of the opportunities produced by the pandemic, given the effect it had on the economic activity,” explains Rodrigo Lobo, an analyst of the survey.

“They are services that were leveraged since mid-2020, like, for example, information technology services, business consulting, support financial services, cargo transportation, logistics support and storage of goods. Those segments are not correlated with face-to-face services and they are showing a significant dynamism, raising the services sector in June 2021 to the level of May 2016,” adds him.

“Leveraged by the segment of housing and food, services rendered to families recorded the third positive rate in June, advancing 40.3% in the period, after being impacted by the closure or limitation of establishments considered non-essential in March this year (-28.0%) to control the dissemination of the virus. However, that activity still operates 22.8% below the pre-pandemic period, because the population still fears to consume products of that nature, besides the operation restrictions of some establishments,” notes the IBGE analyst.

In June, 23 out of 27 Federation Units grew in volume of services against the previous month. Among the places with positive rates, the most important impact came from Rio de Janeiro (5.4%), followed by São Paulo (0.5%), Minas Gerais (2.4%), Rio Grande do Sul (3.4%), Pernambuco (5.4%), Santa Catarina (3.1%) and the Federal District (3.3%). On the other hand, Mato Grosso (-5.0%), Bahia (-0.8%) and Tocantins (-1.8%) posted the only retractions in the period. Alagoas (0.0%) remained stable.

Services grow 21.1% in relation to June 2020

Having advanced 21.1% compared with June 2020, volume of services registered the fourth positive rate in a row. And it is the third rate above 20 percentage points. That growth was followed by all the five activities and also counted with the growth of 83.1% of the 166 types of services investigated.

Services close semester with advance of 9.5%

With the advance of 21.1% in June, the services sector closed the first semester this year with a growth of 9.5%, with advances in all the five activities surveyed and in more than half (63.3%) of the 166 types of services investigated. Among the sectors, the most important positive contributions came from transportation, support activities to transportation and mailing (14.8%) and information and communication (8.4%).

“Up to the cumulative index of May, only services rendered to families were on the negative side. Considering the June´s information, that segment joined the others on the positive side. All of them grew in any comparison,” highlights Rodrigo Lobo.

Index of tourism activities grows, yet it did not return to the pre-pandemic level

Compared with May, the index of tourism activities advanced 11.9% in June. It is the second consecutive positive rate, a period in which it accrued a growth of 43.0%. The segment of tourism should grow 29.5% to resume the level of February last year.

All the 12 Federation Units surveyed in this indicator recorded positive rates, highlighted by São Paulo (5.3%), followed by Rio de Janeiro (12.4%) and Minas Gerais (19.7%).

More about the survey

The Monthly Survey of Services produces indicators to follow up the short-term behavior of the services sector in Brazil. The survey investigates the gross revenue from services in formal enterprises, employing 20 or more persons, in which the main activity is a non-financial service, excluding the areas of health and education. It produces results for Brazil and all the Federation Units. The results can be consulted on Sidra.