Canadian Small Business Facts

With Canada’s 148th Birthday celebrations upon us, today we turn our attention to Small Business in Canada and set to work scouring the various interwebs to see what interesting facts we could find. Our finds were then pooled together here to form a quick glance into the Canadian economy in general and more importantly (to us) the current state & direction of Canadian Small Business today. Enjoy!

1. The official definition of Small Business is those with 5-100 employees. Micro Businesses have 1-4. Which one are you?
2. Largest number of new Canadian small businesses established in one year? Approximately 115,000 in 2005.
3. Small businesses accounted for $68 billion in exports (25 per cent of Canada’s total export value).(Source: Statistics Canada)
4. In 2005, small businesses accounted for 42 per cent of the country’s private sector GDP.(Source: Industry Canada)
5. You might be surprised to learn that 98.2 per cent of businesses operating in Canada are small businesses! However, it’s a lot less shocking when you think about the businesses you most frequent: the coffee shop, the restaurant, the spa, the dentist, the dry cleaner, the bakery, the boutique … you get the picture. Small businesses are all around you.
6. 13.5% of small businesses are solely owned by women. We thought this number seemed low actually…
   
7. Small businesses account for between 60 and 80% of all jobs created in Canada.
8. There are over 900,000 female entrepreneurs in Canada, making up a larger share of the self-employed than in any other country.
9. Small is the new Normal. According to Stats Canada, 75% of businesses employ fewer than five people, and 98% fewer than 100.
10. From 2002-2012, small businesses created 77.7% of all new jobs in Canada
    As small businesses account for 98% of all private sector Canadian employment, it stands to reason that more than 3/4 of all new jobs come from within the sector. In total, small businesses created, on average, 100,000 new jobs per year from 2002-2012.
11. 69.7% of Canadians work for small businesses
    In 2012, over 7.7 million Canadians in the private sector worked for small businesses. In comparison, 2.2 million (20.2%) employees worked for medium businesses. All told, 89.9% of all Canadians worked for a small or medium enterprise (SME).

The Canadian Small Business facts shown here will hopefully provide some food for thought, regardless of whether you agree with them all or not. One thing is for certain though, Canada LOVES Small Business and clearly without the spirit of these amazing entrepreneurs, we as a Nation would be in trouble.  Right now in 2015 could even be described as one of the best times ever to start thinking about joining this ever-growing movement and becoming your own boss?

Get more Tips for Small Business!

Canadian Small Business is Hard Work!

Granted, it’s not all Easy Street Ventures LTD and running a small business is arguably one of the most difficult things you could ever attempt to do. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, but done properly, with support systems and the right people in place it can also be one of the most rewarding experiences one can have.

Happy 148th Birthday Canada! Small Business loves you too :)

What about you?  Do you have a tip or two you would like to add to this list to help a fellow small business owner out?