The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in the services sector in Poland

ABSTRACT

Epidemics of infectious diseases are not new in the history of mankind, but the state of the global COVID-19 pandemic announced in 2020 by the World Health Organization caused unprecedented limitations in the functioning of society and the economy. Under the influence of these restrictions, the services sector has also changed. However, the pandemic affected individual types of services to a different extent and scope, which means that the sensitivity of services to such a strong influence of an external factor varies. The aim of the article is to determine the changes in the services sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular changes in the dynamics of the creation of new service enterprises, the impact of the pandemic on the economic condition of the services sector enterprises, and their sensitivity to such a strong external stimulus. The study analyses the changes taking place in various types of service activities (according to the Polish Classification of Activities). The analysis of changes taking place in the services sector in Poland is carried out with the use of data published by the Central Statistical Office and Eurostat.