In 2017, the services sector had 1,307 million enterprises; they employed 12,302 million persons and paid an average 2.2 minimum wages. The three indicators recorded decrease against 2016, when there were a total 1,330 million enterprises(-1.7%), with 12,345 million employed persons (-0.3%) paying 2.3 minimum wages. In the period, 23.1 thousand enterpriseswere closed, mainly in the sector of Services rendered to families and Transportation and mailing (26.9 thousand enterprises). Figures were also lower in relation to those in 2014, when the services sector had 1,321 million enterprises(-1.1%), 13.0 million workers (-5.3%) with an average compensation of 2.4 minimum wages.

These results come from the Annual Survey of Services (PAS) 2017, which analyzes the productive structure of Non-financial Services sector in the country. The survey also reports deconcentration in the period considered. The eight main enterprises rendering non-financial services accounted for 9.5% of the net operating revenue in 2017. In 2008, they had accounted for 14.0%.

In 2017, enterprises in the service sector generated R$ 1.5 trillion in net operating revenue and R$ 906.5 billion in gross value added, besides paying R$ 336.7 billion in salaries, withdrawals and other compensation.

In ten years, the activity Information and communication services lost relative relevance in relation to the total of services, having fallen from the first to the third position in net revenue, having changed from 29.8%, in 2008, to 22.5%, in 2017. That was partially due to the reduced relevance of Telecommunications, whose participation in revenue fell from 18.1% to 10.6%. The segment of Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing, which was in the second position ten years ago, concentrated the biggest percentage of net operating revenue (29.5%) in 2017, an increase of 0.6 percentagepoints (p.p.), pushed by the increase of services related to road cargo transportation. The second main net revenue was that of Professional, administrative and complementary services (26.2%). The other segments kept their positions in the ranking in comparison with 2008.

The biggest number of persons employed in the sector, which accounted for 4.9 million persons (39.9%), worked in professional, administrative and complementary services, an activity that encompasses manpower and surveillance enterprises, for example. The second main employer in the ranking was Services rendered to families (22.6%), which changed from the third to the second position between 2008 and 2017, and Transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (20.4%).

Services rendered to families hold 12% of the net operating revenue

Services rendered mainly to families, which encompass personal services, lodging, feeding, continuing education and cultural activities, increased its participation by 3,4 percentage points (p.p.), and holds 12.0% of the net operating revenue. A contribution to that result came from rendering of feeding services, which accounts for 7.8% of the Services revenue and increased 2.5 p.p. in a period of ten years.

Real estate activities, which refers to purchase/sale/rent, as well as intermediation services in this field, concentrated 2.4% of the net operating revenue and did not record significant changes in the period.

Maintenance and repair services remained virtually stable between 2008 and 2017, having changed 0.3 percentage points, with a cumulative 1.8% of net operating revenue in 2017. Maintenance and repair of vehicles recorded the biggest increase in the period (0.2 p.p.), then accounting for 1.0% of the Services revenue.

Other service activities, which encompass the activities not previously mentioned – such as auxiliary agricultural services, financial, actuarial and sewage disposal/treatment – accounted for 5.6% of the net operating revenue. The activity of auxiliary financial services, insurance and complementary social security, which corresponds to the biggest part of this segment, concentrated 3.6% of the revenue of Services and increased its participation by 0.5 percentage points in the last ten years of the survey.

There survey shows results for the Services sector are not much concentrated. The eight biggest enterprises surveyed account for 9.5% of the net operating revenue of the sector in 2017. All the segments recorded a decrease in concentration between 2008 and 2017, except enterprises classified as of Other service activities, which had an increase of 6.4 p.p. in their concentration indicator with eight biggest enterprises accounting for 16.6% of the revenue.

Professional, administrative and complementary services employed 4.9 million persons

The number of employed persons fell by 0.3% in relation to 2016. The biggest increase was that of real estate activities (5.8%). Maintenance and repair services fell by 2.9%. In comparison with 2014, there was a decrease of 5.3%. Real estate activities increased 17.2%, that being the only sector to record positive results. Maintenance and repair services had the worst performance (-8.8%).

The segment of Professional, administrative and complementary services recorded the biggest participation in employment, being responsible for 39.9% of the employed persons, followed by services rendered mainly to families (22.6%), transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing (20.4%) and information and communication services (8.0%). The other sectors (real estate activities; maintenance and repair; other service activities) employ a relatively smaller number of persons, accounting for, respectively, 2.0%, 3.3% and 3.8% of the employed population.

The number of employed persons increased against 2008 figures, in all the segments surveyed, amounting to 3.3 million employed persons in non-financial service activities. The segment of professional, administrative and complementary services, in spite of having recorded the biggest absolute increase in terms of employed persons (1.3 million) faced a slight decrease in participation, with a change from 40.4%, in 2008, to 39.9% in 2017, but it remained in the first position.

Among the other sectors, a highlight was Services rendered mainly to families (22.6%), which changed from the third to the second position in the ranking of persons employed in the period, with an increase of 1.6 p.p. of participation between 2008 and 2017, surpassing the segment of transportation, support activities for transportation and mailing, which recorded a decrease of 0.8 p.p. in the period, and participation of 20.4% in 2017.

The average number of persons employed in service enterprises fell from 11 to 9, influenced by the segments of Other service activities (from 16 to 10 persons) and Transportation and mailing (from 17 to 13 persons). Services rendered to families (7 persons), information and communication services (10 persons) and maintenance and repair services (4 persons) remained unchanged.

Average wage in the sector fell from 2.6 to 2.2 minimum wages

The average wage in enterprises rendering non-financial services fell from 2.6 minimum wages, in 2008, to 2.2 minimum wages, in 2017. Decrease was observed in all the segments, except in Services rendered mainly to families, which remained at 1.5 minimum wages in the period, with the highest average compensation between the segments. The sector of information and communication services recorded the biggest decrease, with a change from 5.9 to 4.6 minimum wages between 2008 and 2017, influenced by the decrease of the average minimum wage of telecommunications, which fell by 3.2 minimum wages in the period.

Paraná ultrapassa o Rio Grande do Sul na geração de receita bruta
O Sudeste concentrou 65,6% da receita de serviços no estado de São Paulo, seguido do Rio de Janeiro (20,0%), Minas Gerais (11,9%) e Espírito Santo (2,5%). Em relação a 2008, houve um ligeiro avanço na participação de São Paulo (1,0 p.p.) em contrapartida à redução da participação de Minas Gerais (0,8 p.p.) e Espírito Santo (0,2 p.p.).

In the South Region, there was a relevant structural change: Paraná, whose participation increased by 2.2 p.p., gained prominence in the gross generation of services revenue in that Major Region,  accounting for 39.3%, whereas Rio Grande Sul reduced its participation by 3.7 p.p. and started to account for 35.2% of the total. Santa Catarina accounted for 25.5% of the revenue of services in the region in 2017, having recorded an increase of 1.5 percentage points in participation.

In the Northeast Region, the rendering of non-financial services was concentrated in Ceará, Pernambuco and Bahia, which, together, account for 69.6% of the gross revenue of services in the Region. All the northeastern states advanced in a period of ten years, except Bahia, which reduced its participation by 4.1 percentage points and Alagoas, which recorded a decrease of 0.5 p.p. in the period.

The North Region is characterized by the concetration of services in two states: Pará, which accounted for 37.0% of the gross revenue of the region; and Amazonas, responsible for 36.3%. The other states accounted for less than 30% and remained stable in comparison with 2008. the main structural change, however, was the advance of 2.4 percentage point of Tocantins,  versus the reduction by 3.6 percentage points of Amazonas in this period of ten year.