Changes in industry and services sectors in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

In 2020, the World Health Organization announced the global COVID-19 pandemic, which was followed by unprecedented constraints on society and the economy. The restrictions imposed had an impact on the transformation in industry and services sectors. The pandemic, however, affected particular industry sections and types of services to a different degree. Overall, the industry sector is assumed to have been less affected by the crisis, because the government restrictions did not embrace industrial production for the most part. Services faced a different situation; some of them were not provided due to top-down decisions. Therefore, the vulnerability of industry and services to such a strong external impact varies. The article aims to identify the degree and trends in changes in industry and services sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine the regularities stemming from a different degree of vulnerability of both sectors to such a powerful external stimulus. The study examines changes occurring in different industries and types of services (by the Polish Classification of Economic Activity/NACE 2.0) by way of statistical indicator analysis and using Statistics Poland and Eurostat data.
 The conducted analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic influence on the industry and services sector leads to the conclu- sions that its impact on the industry sector was very time-limited—a sharp fall in gross value added in industry oc- curred mainly in the second quarter of 2020. The pandemic had a modest effect on industry employment, primarily as a result of anti-crisis shields and the will to maintain the potential of labour resources. In the services sector, accommo- dation and food services suffered the most. The significant falls were noted in the transport section as well as cultural, sports and personal services. Business services which were transferred to the Internet and were provided online ended up the most resilient. The ultimate winner of the pandemic is ICT services, especially electronic ones, which have re- placed, wherever possible, traditional types of services.

Untitled

“…This is particularly observed in 2019 and 2020, which may be due to the need to increase the competitive advantage of this sector and its adaptation to the needs caused by the covid pandemic (2020). This is consistent with the results of the study by Dominiak and RachwaB (2022) on the short term-impact of the covid pandemic on industrial sector in Poland. This situation continues (albeit to a lesser extent) in 2021, where a stronger upward trend in total expenditures on innovation activities is observed for service firms than for industrial firms. According to the results, such a feature can also be observed for the covid perspective, when firms have to face conditions of high constraints.…”

Kierunki badań przemysłu w erze turbulencji społeczno-gospodarczych: perspektywa geograficzno-ekonomiczna

“…Niektórzy autorzy łączą wpływ na przemysł i jego działy z sektorem usług, np. Dominiak, Rachwał (2022) (Glushakova i in., 2021). Nieco mniejszą grupę tworzą artykuły o tematyce ekonomiczno-finansowej.…”