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January 27, 2025BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, OCTOBER 2024 Monthly (October 2024 vs September 2024, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia fell by 0.09% from September 2024 to October, falling to 20,973 active businesses.
Nationally, active businesses were down by 0.06%. Six provinces reported lower numbers of active businesses in October 2024 compared with September 2024. The largest rise was reported in New Brunswick, while the largest decline was in British Columbia.
A business will be classified as 'opening' if it had no employment in the previous month and then has employment in the next month. A business is 'closing' if it had employment in the previous month and no employment in the current month. For opening and closing, the reason could be a permanent change (i.e. business exit) or temporary for reasons such as seasonal operations, capital maintenance or restructuring. Continuing business are those that had employment in both the current and previous month. Active businesses are the sum of continuing and opening business in the current month.
The rate at which business either opened, continued or closed can be examined to see how the number of active businesses has changed. The calculation for the opening, continuing and closure rates are based on the number of active businesses in the previous month.
Most businesses continue operating each month. In October 2024, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.5%, above the national average (95.3%). Québec reported the highest business continuing rate (96.4%) while Prince Edward Island (94.7%) reported the lowest.
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.5% in October 2024, below the national average of 4.7%. Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate (5.4%) while Québec had the lowest (3.5%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.6% in October 2024, below the national average. Alberta reported the highest business closing rate (5.3%) while Québec had the lowest business closing rate (3.7%).
Year-over-year (October 2024 vs October 2023)
Compared with October 2023, the number of active businesses was up 1.08% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses were up 0.27% compared to October 2023. Alberta (1.44%) and Nova Scotia reported the highest increases in active businesses since October 2023. Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Québec reported the only year-over-year decline in active businesses.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 1.3% from October 2023 to October 2024.
Out of 35 CMAs, 24 reported increases in active businesses over the past 12 months. Calgary reported the largest rise in the number of active businesses while Greater Sudbury reported the largest decline.
Compared with October 2023, eight sectors saw an increase in active businesses in Nova Scotia in October 2024 with the largest increase (in percentage terms) in mining/oil/gas. The steepest decline was in finance/insurance/management.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for ten of the 16 business sector industries, with the largest declines in transportation and forestry/fishing. The largest gain was in arts/entertainment/recreation.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with October 2023, the number of active tourism-related businesses rose 0.3% in Nova Scotia as of October 2024, with gains in three of the five sectors. Recreation/entertainment reported the fastest year-over-year growth in active tourism businesses in Nova Scotia, while accommodations reported the largest decline.
Nationally the number of tourism-related businesses increased 0.9% from October 2023 to October 2024. There was growth in all sectors except accommodation, with travel services and recreation/entertainment reporting the largest gains.
Trends
There has been a downward trend in forestry/fishing active businesses, while mining/quarrying has renewed growth in active businesses in recent months. Utilities have been stable over the past year.
From 2020-2024, the number of active businesses in construction grew at a steady pace. Manufacturing businesses have remained stable for the past 3 years.
There have been small increases in active businesses for personal/repair and small decreases in arts/recreation in recent months, but these sectors have remained somewhat stable since 2023. Accommodation/food services has seen a slow but steady decline in active businesses since peaking in May of 2024.
Retail and wholesale businesses have declined in the past two years.
Real estate/leasing and administrative/support/call centre active businesses grew in recent months. The number of active businesses in transportation has remained at similar levels since 2021.
Growth in professional/technical services active businesses has slowed in recent months after steady gains in the last two years. The decline in finance/insurance/management businesses has slowed down in recent months while the number of active businesses in information/culture has been stable.
The source data is seasonally adjusted. The data may not aggregate due to firms being classified into multiple industry or geography.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 33-10-0270-01 Experimental estimates for business openings and closures for Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas; Methodology: Business Opening and Closing
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