Aglomeração espacial e o setor terciário: uma análise da estrutura espacial do emprego do setor de serviços na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte

Abstract

The economy of the Metropolitan Area of Belo Horizonte (MABH) is characterized by the spatial polarization, concentration and centralization of its economics activities. The region’s structure displays a high level of specialization, particularly in activities related to the tertiary sector. In its turn, the role played by the service industries in the organization of the global economy has only risen since the last century, so that the sector represents the organizing axis of the urban centers, given its relation with space. Based on the analysis of the service sector employment’s geographical distribution at the MABH, between 2006 and 2015, this paper provides new inputs to the comprehension of Belo Horizonte’s economic structure and labor market, specially to its spatial dimension. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the region’s labor market behaviour on the intra-urban scale, which is not very usual for studies concerning this area. The analysis focus on the relationship between the service industries and space, its evolution in recent years (from 2006 to 2015) and the identification of employment centers and subcenters, based on geocoded matched microdata from the formal sector of MABH’s labor market, from the Ministry of Labor (RAIS-MTE). Methods of Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis and Cluster Analysis were used. The region’s service sector employment showed an intense spatial concentration and centralization. MABH’s labor market structure exhibits a high degree of monocentricity. There is a distinct polarization undertaken by Belo Horizonte’s Central Business District (CBD), located at the region surrounded by Contorno’s Avenue. In addition, it was possible to identify some Subcentral Business Districts (SBD) established in Belo Horizonte’s southern and western portion, as well as in the industrial park located in the municipalities of Contagem and Betim and, in less significance, in the northern part of the state’s capital. The recent timespan was distinguished by the tertiary sector employment’s expansion, despite its concentration in certain localities, specially within the capital’s limits and in its western and northern portions. Furthermore, the study captures the high degree of heterogeneity existing in the groups that form the service sector, pertaining to the great level of discrepancies in their capacities of generating employment and wealth as well as their behaviour in space.