In February, the services sector recorded nominal increase of 10.3% over the figure of...

In February, the services sector recorded nominal increase of 10.3% over the figure of February last year. This is the biggest change since April 2013 (11.6%), being above the January (9.2% - revised) and December (8.3%) rates. Services rendered to families grew 13.2%, Information and communication services, 7.5%, Professional, administrative and complementary services, 9.3%, Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities, 14.7% and Other services, 6.5%. In the year, services revenue records cumulative decrease of 9.8%. In 12 months, there recorded increase is 8.7%.

The Monthly Survey of Services (PMS) is the first short-term indicator that investigates the services sector in Brazil. It encompasses the activities of non-financial business segments, except for the sectors of health, education, public administration and imputed rent (value the owners would earn in case they rented the properties where they live). The complete publication is available at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/servicos/pms.

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The increase of 14.1% in transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities (with a 30.7% participation in the sector) contributes more significantly to the growth of the services sector in February, mainly road transportation (17.6%). With reference to the rate composition, in comparison with January, the contribution of transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities changed from 32.6% to 42.7% in February and road transportation grew in terms of the rate, with a change from 7.6% to 19.4%. The segment ofinformation and communication services recorded decrease from 32.6% to 25.2% in the relative composition of the rate, and professional, administrative and complementary services kept almost the same contribution as in January (19.4% versus 19.6% in February).

Services rendered to families recorded change of 13.2% in February over the same month a year ago, being above the rates observed in January (13.0%) and December (9.6%), representing the biggest change in the last twelve months in this type of comparison. The highlights areLodging and feeding , com crescimento de 13,0%, e other services rendered to families , with change of 15.1%. The series of cumulative change has been on a continuous upward movement through the last 13 months, following the increase of average usual real wage bill of employed persons, which changed from R$ 44,953 million in march 2013 to R$ 47,084 million in February 2014, with increase of 4.7%.

Information and communication services grew 7.5%, with a rate below that of January (8.7%) and above the December one (6.8%). Information technology and communication services (TIC), which encompass telecommunications and information technology activities changed 6.0%, and audiovisual, publishing and news agency services grew 18.1%. The segment of Information and communication services represented 25.2% in terms of relative contribution in the month, with a participation of 2.6 percentage points. in the absolute composition of the index.

The growth of professional, administrative and complementary services was 9.3% in comparison with that of February 2013, versus 8.9% in January and 6.8% in December. Technical professional services, which encompass intensive services in terms of knowledge, increased 9.4% and administrative and complementary services , which encompass intensive services in terms of manpower 9.3%. With relative contribution of 19.4%, this segment contributed, in absolute figures, with 2.0 percentage points to the overall index.

The segment of transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing activities recorded nominal increase of 14.7% in February versus the same month a year before, with rates above those of January (9.7%) and December (11.4%). The biggest increase rates were registered in waterway trasnportation (22.7%) and in air tranportation (20.6%), versus versus 11.8% of road transportation. Warehousing services, support activities for transportation and mailing activities changed 17.1%. With relative contribution of 42.7%, this segment contributed, in absolute figures, with 4.4 percentage points to the overall index.

The segment other services recorded nominal increase of 6.5%.

In February, all the states recorded positive change

Distrito Federal had the highest rate (26.8%), followed by Mato Grosso (24%) and Goiás (22.8%). The lowest rates were those of Alagoas (2.6%), Sergipe (3.4%) and Tocantins (4.3%). The analysis of absolute and relative composition of the services index presents, as highlights: São Paulo, with 33.0% of relative contribution and 3.4% of absolute contribution, followed by Rio de Janeiro (19.4% and 2.0 percentage points), Minas Gerais (6.8% and 0.7 percentage points) and Distrito Federal (5.7% and 0.6 percentage points).

In the segment services rendered to families, the biggest rates occurred in Ceará (23.5%), Rio Grande do Sul (19.8%) and São Paulo (17.8%). The lowest rates were those of Goiás (3.9%), Bahia (4.9%) and Santa Catarina (5.9%).

In information and communications services, Goiás had the highest increase rate (40.1%), followed by the Federal District (27.1%) and Santa Catarina (20.8%). The lowest positive rates were observed in Espírito Santo (0.7%), Minas Gerais (1.3%) and São Paulo (2.6%). In this segment, Bahia recorded a negative change of -1.9%.

In professional, administrative and complementary services, Distrito Federal had the highest increase rate (24.2%), followed by Bahia (13.3%) and Santa Catarina (12.8%). The lowest positive rates were those of Pernambuco (0.4%), Ceará (4.7%) and Espírito Santo (5.6%). Rio Grande do Sul recorded negative change of -6.2%.

In transportation, auxiliary services for transportation and mailing activitiesFederal District (36.8%), Rio de Janeiro (20.5%) and Goiás (16.4%) recorded the biggest changes. The lowest changes were those of Rio Grande do Sul (5.7%), Santa Catarina (7.5%) and Espírito Santo (8.7%).

In the segment other services, the main increases were observed in Ceará (32.4%), Bahia (29.1%) and Distrito Federal (25.5%). The lowest rates were observed in São Paulo (2.0%), Santa Catarina (2.6%) and Pernambuco (2.9%).