In March 2020, the state of epidemic threat was announced in Poland, followed by the state of epidemic in connection with the spread of an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, named COVID-19.

At the end of the first quarter of 2021, the number of job vacancies in Poland, in the entities of the national economy (parent units or their local units) employing at least 1 person, was 110.2 thousand and was 25.8 thousand or 30.6% higher than at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.

At the end of 2020, there were operating 260 health resort facilities. 427.9 thousand patients were admitted to health resort facilities during a year, of which 391.4 thousand were inpatients. 36.4 thousand inpatients were treated in 35 inpatient rehabilitation facilities.

As of the end of 2020, there were 4040 operating centres of culture, cultural establishments, cultural centres, clubs and community centres. During the year entities organised 120.9 thousand events, in which took part 13.4 million participants.

In 2020, the financial situation of households slightly improved despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a significant impact on the level and structure of expenditure in particular. Households reached higher income, but in comparison with previous year spent noticeably less.

In February 2021, 697.4 thousand tourists were accommodated in tourist accommodation establishments and 1.6 million were provided for them.

In April 2021 entities having 50 or more persons employed and participating in the monthly survey of production of industrial products, reported production of 13 130 095 face masks used in medicine and 6 807 206 other protective face masks.

Assessment of the situation in manufacturing, construction, trade and services (with in-depth presentation of results in accommodation and food service activities) is based upon the subjective opinions about actual and future business situation expressed by the directors of the surveyed companies. The quarterly data in manufacturing are available in January, April, July and October. The data on investments in manufacturing and investments in construction are available in March and October.

In most of presented kinds of activities general business climate indicator in May is at a higher level than in the previous month. In all of researched areas improvement of “forecast” components have been reported, in most sectors also “diagnostic” ones went up. The most positive1 indicator is reported in information and communication section, whereas the most pessimistic one in accommodation and food service activities, however these entities note the biggest month-to-month improvement. In the current month – answers provided between 1 and 10 May – supplementary set of questions has been added to the survey. This particular set aims to additionally diagnose the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on business tendency (results in Annex).

In April 2021, average paid employment in enterprise sector was higher by 0.9% y/y and amounted to 6316.9 thousand, while average wages and salaries were higher by 9.9% y/y and amounted to 5805.72 PLN (gross).