The Economics and Statistics Division maintains archives of previous publications for accountability purposes, but makes no updates to keep these documents current with the latest data revisions from Statistics Canada. As a result, information in older documents may not be accurate. Please exercise caution when referring to older documents. For the latest information and historical data, please contact the individual listed to the right.
<--- Return to Archive
For additional information relating to this article, please contact:
December 24, 2020BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, SEPTEMBER 2020 Statistics Canada released updated data on monthly business openings and closures for September 2020 today.
A business will be classified as open if it had no employment in the previous month and then has employment in the next month and a business will be closed if it had employment 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, restructuring or the COVID-19 situation. 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 number of active business declined sharply in every province in March, April and May. In June and July, the number of businesses started to recover, with gains in all provinces.
Additional public health measures were implemented across some provinces in October and November to limit the spread of the second wave of the pandemic. Statistics Canada noted that the September data may not reflect the impacts of these new measures. The series for October and November will be released in January and February 2021.
In September, active businesses increased in all provinces. The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia increased 0.9% from the previous month, compared to a 1.5% increase for Canada. Quebec (+2.8%) posted the largest monthly gain across all provinces.
Compared with February 2020, the number of active businesses was down 6.2% in Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses declined by 7.2% from February to September 2020. The number of active businesses was down in all provinces compared to February 2020, with the largest decline experienced in Ontario (-8.3%).
Among cities (Census Metropolitan Areas), the decline in active businesses from February to September was most severe in Toronto (-10.1%), Windsor (-9.0%), and Guelph (-8.4%). There were 4.4% fewer active businesses in Halifax in September when compared to February 2020. This was a more moderate decline than in the rest of Nova Scotia.
The calculation for the opening, continuing and closure rate have been made based on the number of active business in the previous month. The rate at which business either opened, continued or closed can be examined to see how number of active business has changed.
Most businesses continue operating each month. At the height of COVID-19 related restrictions, the share of businesses that continued to operate from one month to the next fell to 88.3% in Nova Scotia, down from 95.5% in February 2020. National continuing rates fell from 94.8% in February to 89.1% in April. As of September, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate has risen back to 95.9% while the national rate has grown to 95.6%.
Nova Scotia’s business opening rate declined from 4.3% in February to 3.6% in April. In June, the Nova Scotia business opening rate increased to 9.5% as the economy re-opened and restrictions were lifted. In July, the opening rate slowed to 6.6% and fell to 4.8% in September. Nationally, the opening rate declined from 4.5% in February to a low of 4.0% in March before increasing to 7.5% in June 2020. The opening rate declined to 6.4% in August and stayed at the same rate in September 2020.
The rate of business closures in Nova Scotia was 4.5% in February 2020. This increased to 11.6% in April and has subsequently fallen to 4.0% in September. Nationally, the business closing rate increased from 4.8% in February to 11.5% in April. As of September, the national business closing rate was 4.5%.
The COVID-19 situation has impacted business sector industries to different degrees. Nova Scotia active business were lower in all sectors when compared to February. Nova Scotia's largest declines have been in arts/entertainment/recreation (-11.2%) and accommodation/food services (-12.4%). These are also the same two industries with the largest business declines at the national level.
The increase in the number of active businesses in Nova Scotia in September was most notable in administrative/business services and arts/entertainment/recreation. In September, there were minimal declines in the number of active businesses in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors.
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
<--- Return to Archive
