January 2026 in Kielce brought a predominance of signals pointing to a slowdown in the real economy and the labour market, despite the fact that wages continued to grow year on year. The most consistently negative picture comes from employment data: average employment in the enterprise sector amounted to 29.9 thousand full-time positions and was lower both compared with December 2025 and January 2025. On an annual basis, this represents a decline of 2.2%, suggesting that companies are entering the new year more cautiously, with some sectors reducing their workforce. At the same time, monthly data show the typical January seasonality, which in Kielce was particularly strong in construction.
The deterioration is also visible in registered unemployment. At the end of January 2026, there were 5,394 registered unemployed persons in Kielce, representing an increase of 16.8% year on year and 5.8% compared with the end of December. The registered unemployment rate rose to 5.6% from 4.8% a year earlier. This change is significant, as it shows that even if some individuals are finding employment, the inflow of new unemployed persons and the overall labour market balance remain unfavourable. In the background, there is also the context of the new Labour Market Act in force since 1 June 2025, which may have affected the comparability of some data; however, the scale of the increase in unemployment is large enough that it cannot be explained solely by statistical effects.
Wages in the enterprise sector in Kielce amounted to PLN 7,591.04 gross in January. Compared with December, they were 7.0% lower, which is a typical “step-down” after a month when bonuses, awards and annual payments are often made. On an annual basis, however, wages were 4.9% higher, meaning that the real upward trend was maintained, although the growth rate was not among the highest. Importantly, the structure of wage changes is uneven: in some divisions, month-on-month declines are deep, while on a yearly basis certain sections are growing significantly faster than the average, suggesting that pay rises are becoming more selective and depend on the condition of specific industries.
In the real sectors, the picture is more challenging. Sold industrial production in constant prices in January 2026 was 10.5% lower than a year earlier, and in manufacturing alone the decline reached 12.0%. This points to weaker production activity, which may be linked both to demand conditions and to the order structure in specific industries operating in the city. At the same time, labour productivity in industry, measured by output per employee, also declined, which usually means that the drop in production volume was greater than changes in employment, or that companies are maintaining staff levels despite weaker sales, anticipating improvement in the coming months.
Construction also performed poorly. Sold construction production in current prices was 13.6% lower than in January 2025, and construction and assembly production fell by as much as 53.0% year on year. This was compounded by very strong seasonality in monthly terms, as construction and assembly output declined by more than 80% compared with December. Such a set of data suggests that this is not merely a winter slowdown, but also a genuinely weaker level of activity relative to the previous year, which may be felt by contractors and subcontractors.
In trade, a decline in demand and turnover is also visible. Retail sales carried out by trading and non-trading enterprises were 8.6% lower in January than a year earlier, which is a clear signal of cooling consumption or shifts in purchasing patterns. At the same time, wholesale sales in trading enterprises were 6.5% lower year on year, while in wholesale enterprises they remained virtually unchanged on an annual basis, which may indicate that part of the decline concerns channels linking retail with distribution, whereas “pure” wholesale maintains more stable dynamics.
The strongest positive surprise comes from the housing sector, although it should be interpreted cautiously. In January 2026, 251 dwellings were completed in Kielce, which is as many as 42 times more than in the same month of 2025, with nearly all units built for sale or rent. Such extreme dynamics suggest a strong base effect and a concentration of completed investments. At the same time, data on future supply are weak: construction began on only 11 dwellings and permits or notifications were issued for just 5 units, representing a sharp year-on-year decline. If such low investment activity persists, the current surge in completions may not translate into a lasting trend in the coming quarters.
In the sphere of entrepreneurship, the number of entities registered in REGON at the end of January was 379 higher than a year earlier, confirming a positive annual trend. In January alone, however, the balance of new registrations and removals was slightly negative, with 130 new entities registered and 139 deregistered. In addition, the number of companies with suspended activity is rising, which is often a sign of caution among the smallest entrepreneurs and an attempt to “wait out” a weaker period without permanently closing operations.
