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Third fastest-growing segment in the GDP of 2024, only behind information services and other services, construction added 2.858 million workers and was a key piece for Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which rose 7.3% in the year
When the Brazilian economy accelerates, one of the first places it shows is on the construction site. In 2024, construction had one of the best performances among the major sectors and became a growth engine for the country. According to CBIC, construction grew 4.3% in 2024 and ended the year with a GDP of R$ 359.523 billion. It was construction driving the economy.
The result placed the sector on the podium of the year. According to CBIC, construction was the third fastest-growing segment in the GDP of 2024, only behind information and communication services, which rose 6.2%, and other service activities, with an increase of 5.3%. Among the major sectors, few ran faster than bricks.
Construction as a job engine
The sector’s growth appeared strongly in the job market. According to CBIC, construction created 110,133 new formal jobs in 2024, raising the number of workers with formal contracts in the sector to 2.858 million. Each new project meant an open position.
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Image caption (pedreiro-advogado-2.jpg): Construction is one of the sectors that employs the most in Brazil. Photo: Reproduction/press.
This is a trait that makes construction a strategic sector for employment. Unlike highly automated segments, construction still relies heavily on labor, which makes the sector generate jobs quickly when the economy heats up. For millions of Brazilians, the construction site is the gateway to the formal market, and that’s why the performance of construction is often seen as a barometer for employment in the country. When construction grows, jobs appear almost immediately, giving the sector a social role that goes beyond GDP numbers.
The size of this workforce reinforces the point. According to CBIC, the sector reached 2.858 million formal workers in 2024, a contingent that places construction among the largest employers in the Brazilian industry. It’s people supporting their families from the construction site.
What drove growth in 2024
Several factors pushed the sector upwards at the same time. According to CBIC, the good result of the construction industry in 2024 came from the greater dynamism of the economy, the heating up of the labor market, the construction calendar, and the return of the Minha Casa, Minha Vida program. It was a combination of public and private demand.
Image caption (pedreiro-advogado-3.jpg): Housing and infrastructure works sustained the advancement of the construction industry in 2024. Photo: Reproduction/press.
The weight of popular housing in this result deserves emphasis. Housing programs like Minha Casa, Minha Vida move a huge chain, from cement to labor, and reheat the construction industry throughout the country. When this type of work returns strongly, the effect spreads through cement, steel, paint, transport, and commerce, multiplying the impact of each house built.
The market’s reading followed this optimism throughout the year. According to Jovem Pan, which reported the sector’s data, the growth of the construction industry’s GDP in 2024 was revised to 4.1% before closing above that, confirming a strong year for the segment. The projections kept getting better as the works progressed.
Why the construction industry affects the entire economy
The size of the sector explains why it matters so much. The construction industry is one of the most connected links in the economy: it buys from dozens of industries, such as cement, steel, glass, ceramics, and chemicals, and employs from laborers to engineers. Therefore, when construction grows, it pulls along a line of suppliers and services, in a chain effect that few industry sectors can provoke.
This linkage appeared in the country’s investment numbers. According to CBIC, the performance of the construction industry was decisive for the Gross Fixed Capital Formation, which measures productive investment and grew by 7.3% in 2024, raising Brazil’s investment rate to 17%. Investing in construction is investing in the future capacity of the economy.
What to expect from the sector going forward
The good moment does not eliminate the structural challenges of the construction industry. The sector is sensitive to high interest rates, which make financing real estate and large projects more expensive, and depends on a favorable credit environment to maintain the pace. Material costs and the availability of qualified labor also factor into the calculations of those planning the coming years.
Even so, the construction industry remains a central bet for the sustained growth of the country. High housing deficit, demand for infrastructure, sanitation, and mobility form a work list that lasts decades. As long as there are missing houses and stalled projects, the sector will have room to grow and continue being one of the largest employers and investors in the Brazilian industry.
It’s worth measuring the multiplier effect of these jobs. Each open position in the construction site usually leads to others in the materials industry, transportation, and commerce that supply the site, making civil construction one of the activities that most spread income throughout the economy. It’s not just the bricklayer who benefits: it’s the cement factory, the metalwork shop, the materials store, and the truck driver who delivers the load.
The link with the basic industry is what gives this sector such a significant weight in the country. Civil construction consumes a relevant part of the steel, cement, and glass produced in Brazil, so a strong year of construction heats up an entire industrial chain. According to CBIC, it was precisely this combination of employment, input consumption, and investment that made civil construction boost the national economy in 2024.
Finally, the numbers from 2024 serve as a reference to measure the coming years. Repeating a growth of 4.3% will depend on interest rates, credit, and the continuity of housing programs, but the level reached shows the size of the sector when conditions are favorable. Civil construction proved, once again, that when the construction site is active, the economy and jobs move along, and that few sectors can transform growth into formal jobs as quickly as construction.
Watch: how civil construction influences Brazil’s GDP
To understand the sector’s weight in the economy, a video helps. CNN Brasil Economia showed how services and civil construction helped in the country’s GDP growth, according to economists, the same indicators monitored by CBIC. Tell us in the comments: did you feel the construction boom in your city?
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVD4Ty83xuk
