Brazil’s Labor Productivity Rose 0.4% in 2025 With Agriculture the Only Gain

Overview

• New data from FGV Ibre’s Productivity Observatory show labor productivity rose 0.4% in 2025, matching 2024 and trailing the 2.3% jump in 2023 on a measure per hours actually worked.
• Agriculture delivered all the progress in 2025 with a 13.2% productivity rise, while industry fell 0.3% and services slipped 0.6%.
• The headline figure reflects value added growing 2.4% in 2025 against a 2.0% increase in hours worked, leaving only a small efficiency gain.
• Industry and services account for more than 90% of hours worked, so declines in those sectors weigh on most jobs and firms across the economy.
• Specialists cited by Valor Econômico say the pattern confirms 2023 was an outlier and that low productivity makes fast, durable growth hard to sustain.