The Southeast remains the largest generator of gross revenue in Brazil’s services sector. The Annual Services Survey (PAS) 2023, released on Wednesday (27) by the Brazilian statistics agency IBGE, shows that the four southeastern states accounted for 64.4% of the sector’s total gross revenue in 2023, compared with 64.6% in 2014.
The South followed, rising to 14.9% from 14.4% in the same period, while the Northeast fell to 10.1% from 10.6%. The Central-West ranked fourth, with a share of 7.9% in 2023 compared with 7.5% in 2014, while the North slipped to 2.7% from 2.8%.
IBGE noted that this ranking was partially mirrored in other variables, such as wage payments. In 2023, the Southeast paid an average of 2.6 minimum wages in the services sector, followed by the Central-West and South (2 minimum wages), the North (1.8), and the Northeast (1.6). The national average was 2.2 minimum wages.
In terms of employment, the Southeast led with 8.6 million people working in the services sector, an increase of 13.5% (or 1 million people) over the last 10 years. The South followed with 2.6 million (up 530,400 or 25.4%); the Northeast with 2.3 million (up 391,200 or 20.2%); the Central-West with 1.2 million (up 219,900 or 21.7%); and the North with 459,800 (up 74,800 or 19.4%).
Among individual states, São Paulo accounted for 45% of services sector gross revenue in 2023, followed by Rio de Janeiro (10%); Minas Gerais (7.8%); Paraná (5.5%); Rio Grande do Sul (4.7%); Santa Catarina (4.6%); Bahia (3%); the Federal District (2.6%); Goiás (2.2%); and Pernambuco (2.1%).