Segment of services rendered to families has more enterprises, but that of services rendered to enterprises employs more people. Information services have the highest revenue, biggest productivity and wages are above the average of the sector. The Southeast concentrates 66.9% of the gross income of Services in Brazil.

In Brazil, in 2002, the Annual Survey of Services detected about 945 thousand companies of market services, employing 6856 thousand persons and paying R$ 55.1 billion in salaries, withdrawals and other compensation. The net operating revenue of the activities surveyed was R$ 290.5 billion. Among them, information services (which include telecommunications and television) had the biggest participation in this amount (31.6%), but gathered 5.4% of the companies and generated 6.3% of the jobs in the sector (Graph 1).

Services rendered to families, among which prevail small and medium-sized enterprise, had most (38.4%) of the companies, representing the second highest percentage (25.5%) of job posts, but only 9.9% of the net revenue of the companies surveyed. The group services rendered to enterprises generated more job posts (33.8%), made up 19.4% of the net operating revenue and gathered 22.2% of the companies. The real estate segment was the least significant one, with 5.2% of the companies, 3.4% of the employed persons and 3.5% of the net revenue.

The segment of transportation and mailing activities, with only 10.1% of the companies surveyed, stands out since it represents 21.5% of the employed persons overall and 29.3% of the net operating revenue of non-financial services.

With productivity (R$ 213.3 thousand) significantly above the average of this sector (R$ 42.4 thousand),the segment of information services also paid the highest average monthly compensation (8.5 minimum wages), surpassing the national average (3.2 minimum wages) of Services (Table 1).

The segment of Transportation, auxiliary services and mailing recorded the second highest level of productivity (R$ 57.7 thousand) and of average compensation (4.2 minimum wages), both above the average of the sector, but below those of information services. The companies of services rendered to families had the lowest productivity (R$ 16.4 thousand) and the lowest average compensation (1.7 minimum wages) among the segments surveyed.

Regional structure

In 2002, the Southeast remained as the leader with 66.9% of the gross revenue of services (versus 68% in 1998), 61.2% of the employed persons and 60.3% of the companies. The South remained in second place, but reduced its participation in terms of total companies and persons employed. The Central West remained stable in terms of number of companies (5.9%) and increased its participation in the net revenue of services from 5.9% in 1998 to 6.5% in 2002 (Table 2).

Services rendered to families

In 2002, this segment had about 363 thousand companies, with 1755 thousand employed persons and net revenue of R$ 28.7 billion. The highlight was feeding services, with 79.8% of the companies, 67.5% of the net operating revenue (Graph 2), 72.1% of the job posts and average monthly salary of about 1.7 a minimum wage.

The lowest participation in the number of enterprises was the activity recreational services (6.2%), whereas personal services had the lowest participation in terms of number of employed persons (5.8%) and net operating revenue (6.3%).  

Services rendered to companies

In 2002, the segment generated about R$ 56.5 billion in net operating revenue and employed 2314 thousand persons. The activity of technical-professional services led in terms of net revenue (53.2%) and number of companies (51.3%). Cleaning services in buildings and housing units, photographic services and other services were the leader in terms of job posts (43.9%) - whose average compensation was 2.0 minimum wages - and were in the second position in terms of income (27.8%) and number of companies (45.1%).

Information services

This segment generated net sales of R$ 91.9 billion. The activity of telecommunications was the main one in terms of net sales (65.1%) and average salary (15.1 minimum wages), but the smallest in terms of occupation (19.0% of the 431 thousand job posts) and number of enterprises: 4.0% of the 51 thousand of the segment (Graph 4).

With average income of 6.7 minimum wages, the Computing sector had the biggest participation in number of enterprises (80.9%) and of employed persons (59.1%) and the second biggest participation in revenue (21.9%). Audiovisual activities remained in second place in terms of occupation (21.9%) and average income (7.4 minimum wages) and recorded the smallest participation in net operating revenue: 13,0%.

Transportation, auxiliary services and mailing

The activities of transportation, auxiliary services and mailing had 95 thousand companies, 1472 thousand job posts and made R$ 85.1 billion. Road transportation (Graph 5) was the leader considering number of companies (69.3%), employed persons (66.7%) and revenue (46.3%). Air transportation paid the highest salaries (13.8 minimum wages). 

In terms of air transportation, the cargo sector accounted for 70.6% of the number of companies and for 54.4% of the net operating revenue 9Graph 6), whereas passenger transportation accounted for 59.4% of the total job posts. The average compensation in these two segments was similar: 3.3 and 3.0 minimum wages per month, respectively. 

Real estate activities and rental of goods 

The 50 thousand companies of the segment employed 233 thousand persons and made R$ 10.1 billion. About 54.0% of these companies, and 50.6% of the employed persons were working in activities related to administration, dealing and rental of real estate belonging to third parties.  

The activities of rental of vehicles, machinery and personal and domestic objects had the biggest participation (37.6%) in net sales. The average compensation of these three activities was about 2.8 minimum wages. 

Other services

Most of (43.3%) the 177 thousand companies of this segment worked as commercial representatives and trade agents.  Auxiliary services had the biggest participation (31.8%) in the total sales (R$ 18.4 billion).  Among the 651 thousand persons employed n these services, 37.5% worked in maintenance and repair of vehicles and personal objects. Auxiliary financial services paid the best average salaries (5.7 minimum wages per month).