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October 24, 2022BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, JULY 2022 Statistics Canada released updated data on monthly business openings and closures for July 2022. The data are seasonally adjusted.
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 number of active businesses in Nova Scotia decreased 0.48% from June to July 2022 (falling to 20,537 active businesses); this was the largest decline among provinces. Nationally, active businesses edged down just 0.04%. Only three provinces reported higher numbers of active businesses in July 2022 than in June: Prince Edward Island, Ontario and Manitoba.
Compared with July 2021, the number of active businesses was up 3.1% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses were 2.6% higher compared with July 2021. All provinces reported a higher number of active businesses compared with July 2021, with the largest increase in Prince Edward Island and the slowest gains in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The number of active businesses in Halifax was up 7.7% from July 2021 July 2022. Among cities (Census Metropolitan Areas), only Belleville reported fewer active businesses over the last year. The cities with the largest rises in the number of active businesses were Windsor and Peterborough.
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 July 2022, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.6% (95.5% nationally). Quebec reported the highest business continuing rate while Prince Edward Island reported the lowest.
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.1% as of July 2022 (4.6% nationally). Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate while Quebec had the lowest.
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.7% in July 2022 (4.6% nationally). Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate while Quebec and New Brunswick had the lowest business closing rates.
Compared with July 2021, the number of active Nova Scotia businesses in July 2022 was lower in forestry/fishing, mining/oil/gas (a small number to start with), transportation, information/culture and finance/insurance/company management. From July 2021 to July 2022, there were notable percentage increases in the number of active businesses in utilities (also starting from a small number) as well as stronger increases in construction, real estate/leasing, professional/technical services, administrative/support services (including call centres), arts/entertainment/recreation and accommodation/food services.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for forestry/fishing, mining/oil/gas, utilities, transportation and finance/insurance/management. There were notable increases in real estate/leasing as well as arts/entertainment/recreation.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with July 2021, the number of active tourism-related businesses was up 7.0% in Nova Scotia as of July 2022, with consistent gains across each subsector.
Nationally growth in tourism-related businesses was 3.8% over the last year with a decline in transportation for tourism and stronger growth in travel services (which were down substantially during the height of the pandemic).
Construction contributed the most to declining active businesses in Nova Scotia from June to July 2022, more than offsetting some gains reported in professional/technical services.
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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