This article was aimed at expanding the Furtuoso and Guilhoto methodology of delimiting industrial clusters, using it to determine the extension of the machinery industry. Dealing with the original information of the Brazilian input-output matrix of 1996 and its updating based on the System of National Accounts of 2002, an attempt was made to appraise the importance of this particular cluster as regards creation of value added (net output) and employment. Specifically, a number of consequences of the sectoral division of labour of the system were considered both as a device to delimit the boundaries of the cluster and to analyse the productivity of labour.
machine industry cluster; input-output matrix; methodology of Furtuoso and Guilhoto
