In September 2015, the volume of the services sector in Brazil declined 4.8% in relation to September 2014. This was the highest drop in the time series started in 2012, keeping the sequence of negative figures in the year, with the exception of March 2015 (2.3%). All the segments of the sector dropped: Services rendered to families (-6.7%); Information and communication services (-0.7%); Professional, administrative and complementary services (-8.1%), Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing
(-6.4%) and Other services (-9.9%). The cumulative rate in the year stayed at -2.8% and, in 12 months, at -1.8%. The special aggregate of Tourism activities retracted 3.3%. The nominal revenue from services did not change in September (0.0%), against 1.1% in August and 2.1% in July. Its cumulative rate in the year stayed at 1.8% and, in 12 months, at 2.5%. Click here to access the complete publication.

Table 1
Nominal Revenue Indicators of Services Sector, According to Groups of Activities

Brazil - September 2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Serviços e Comércio.

In terms of the global rate of volume, the segment of Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing contributed the most (-2.1 p.p.), followed by Professional, administrative and complementary services (-1.6 p.p), Other services (-0.5 p.p.), Services rendered to families (-0.4 p.p.) and Information and communication services (-0.2 p.p.) (Table 2).

Table 2
Absolute Composition of the Monthly Rate of Services,
According to Groups of Activities, Brazil - September 2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Serviços e Comércio.
(1) Base 2011=100

RESULTS BY SECTOR

The segment of Services rendered to families retracted 6.7% in terms of volume of services in September over the same month of the previous year, against -8.2% in August and -1.9% in July, keeping the constant series of negative changes of volume since May 2014. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -5.0% and, in 12 months, at -4.5%. Lodging and food services and Other services rendered to families dropped 6.1% and 9.8%, respectively.

The reduction of the purchasing power of the employed population in relation to September 2014 – declines of 4.3% in the average usual real earnings and of 6.1% in the average usual real wage bill, according to the Monthly Employment Survey of the IBGE –, coupled with the change in the prices of the item 'food away from home' above the overall average of the September´s IPCA, contributed to the decline of 6.7% in Services rendered to families.    

The volume of Information and communication services changed -0.7% in September in relation to the same month last year, against 0.2% in August and -0.2% in July. The cumulative change in the year stood at 1.0% and, in 12 months, at 1.3%.

Information and communication technology services (ICT) changed -0.9% in terms of volume, highlighted by Telecommunications (-2.4%) and Information technology services (4.7%). The volume of Audiovisual, publishing and news agency services grew 0.8% over the same month a year ago.

The volume of Professional, administrative and complementary services declined (-8.1%) in September in relation to the same month last year, against drops of 5.1% in August and of 3.9% in July. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -3.1% and, in 12 months, at -1.9%.

Technical-professional services declined 16.0% in terms of volume, mainly due to the retraction of Engineering and architecture services. Administrative and complementary services dropped 5.3%.

The volume of Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing retreated 6.4% in September compared with the same month a year ago. In August and July, this segment declined 4.3% and 8.5%, respectively. The cumulative change in the year stayed at -5.7% and, in 12 months, at -4.0%. In terms of mode, the figures were: Land transportation (-11.5%), Water transportation (25.4%), Air transportation (4.5%) and Storage services, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (-3.8%).

The volume of Other services changed -9.9% in September, against -12.6% in August and -8.9% in July. The cumulative change in the year stood at -8.4% and, in 12 months, at -6.6%.

Tourism activities retracted 3.3% in September over September 2014, against an increase of 0.1% in August and a decrease of 5.7% in July. The cumulative rate in the year stood at -2.5% and, in 12 months, at -2.2%. This special aggregate encompasses: lodging and food services; leisure, recreational and cultural services; car rental without driver; travel agencies and tourism operators and tourism transportation.

QUARTERLY RESULTS

In the third quarter of 2015, the services sector retreated 4.2% in relation to the third quarter of 2014. All the segments registered negative figures: Services rendered to families (-5.6%); Information and communication services (-0.2%); Professional, administrative and complementary services (-5.7%); Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (-6.4%) and Other services (-10.5%). Tourism activities declined 3.0%.

Table 3
Quarterly Indicators of Volume of the Services Sector, According to Groups of Activities
Brazil, 2014-2015

Source: IBGE, Diretoria de Pesquisas, Coordenação de Serviços e Comércio.

RESULTS BY REGION

Compared with the same month last year, four Federation Units recorded positive changes of volume in September: Rondônia (6.5%), Mato Grosso (5.7%), Roraima (4.7%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (3.3%). The Federal District did not report any significant change (0.0%) and the most intense negative changes of volume were reported in Amapá (-13.4%), Amazonas (-13.3%) and Maranhão (-12.9%).

Among the Tourism activities, the positive changes in terms of volume were registered in the Federal District (8.2%), Goiás (3.1%), Santa Catarina (2.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (0.2%). The negative changes were recorded in Rio Grande do Sul (-12.4%), Espírito Santo (-12.1%), Pernambuco (-6.3%), Bahia (-5.7%), Minas Gerais (-5.0%), São Paulo (-4.0%), Paraná (-3.4%) and Ceará (-3.1%).