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June 24, 2024BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, MARCH 2024 Monthly (March 2024 vs February 2024, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia declined 0.10% from February 2024 to March 2024 (going down to 20,802 active businesses).
Nationally, active businesses were down by 0.18%. All provinces reported lower numbers of active businesses in March 2024 compared with February 2024. The largest declines were reported in Québec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
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 March 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 Alberta (94.7%) reported the lowest.
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.4% in March 2024, same as the national level. Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate (5.1%) while Québec had the lowest (3.4%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.6% in March 2024 (4.7% nationally). Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.3%) while Québec had the lowest business closing rate (3.7%).
Year-over-year (March 2024 vs March 2023)
Compared with March 2023, the number of active businesses was up 0.79% for Nova Scotia, second behind Alberta. Nationally, active businesses were 0.41% higher than in March 2023. Prince Edward Island reported the largest year-over-year declines in active businesses.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 2.6% from March 2023 to March 2024.
Out of 35 CMAs, 30 reported growth in active businesses over the past 12 months. Calgary and Halifax and East Hants reported the largest rises in the number of active businesses while Guelph and Victoria reported the biggest declines.
Compared with March 2023, the number of active Nova Scotia businesses in March 2024 was up in most business sector industries, led by utilities, construction, and information/culture. From March 2023 to March 2024, there were declines in the number of active businesses in forestry/fishing, wholesale, retail trade, finance/insurance/management, and arts/entertainment/recreation while no changes in mining/oil/gas.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for many business sector industries except utilities, construction, arts/entertainment/recreation, and accommodation/food services with no changes in personal/repair services.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with March 2023, the number of active tourism-related businesses rose 0.9% in Nova Scotia as of March 2024, with gains in travel services and accommodations offsetting declines in recreation/entertainment, and food/beverage. The number of active tourism-related businesses in transportation were unchanged.
Nationally the number of tourism-related businesses increased 1.5% from March 2023 to March 2024. Growth in travel services, recreation/entertainment, accommodations, and food/beverage offset declines in transportation.
Trends
There had been a downward trend in forestry/fishing active businesses, while the decline in mining/quarrying had stabilized in the last year. Utilities have also been stable over the past year.
After the pandemic, the number of active businesses in construction have steadily grown. Manufacturing businesses have remained stable for the past 2 years.
There has been limited growth in personal/repair, accommodation/food services and arts/recreation in recent months.
Retail and wholesale businesses have declined in recent months.
Real estate/leasing active businesses have been growing since the pandemic, while administrative/support/call centre businesses declined in the final months of 2023. The number of active businesses in transportation has remained at similar levels since 2021.
Growth in professional/technical services active businesses has stabilized in the recent months after steady gains in the last two years. Finance/insurance/management businesses have also trended down in recent months while the number of active businesses in information/culture has slowly trended up in recent months.
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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