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December 20, 2022BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, SEPTEMBER 2022 Statistics Canada released updated data on monthly business openings and closures for September 2022. The data are seasonally adjusted.
Month-over-month (September 2021 vs August 2021, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia decreased 0.56% from August to September 2022 (falling to 20,356 active businesses); this was the third largest decline among provinces and the fourth consecutive monthly decline in active businesses in Nova Scotia.
Nationally, active businesses declined by 0.27%. All provinces reported lower numbers of active businesses in September 2022 compared with August 2022, with the largest decline in Newfoundland and Labrador while Prince Edward Island reported the smallest decline.
Year-over-year (September 2022 vs September 2021)
Compared with September 2021, the number of active businesses was up 1.6% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses were 2.0% higher compared with September 2021. Nine provinces reported a higher number of active businesses compared with September 2021, with the largest increase in Prince Edward Island. The only decline was reported in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 7.2% from September 2021 to September 2022. However, the East Hants portion of the CMA was only recently added and this accounts for much of the growth compared with September 2021 (which did not include East Hants in the Halifax CMA).
Among CMAs, only Belleville and Saint John reported fewer active businesses over the last year. The cities with the largest rises in the number of active businesses were Windsor and Peterborough.
Compared with September 2021, the number of active Nova Scotia businesses in September 2022 was lower in mining/oil/gas (a small number to start with), manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation, information/culture, finance/insurance/company management, and personal/repair services. From September 2021 to September 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, 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, wholesale trade, transportation, and finance/insurance/management. There were notable increases in real estate/leasing as well as arts/entertainment/recreation, construction, professional/technical services, and accommodation/food services.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with September 2021, the number of active tourism-related businesses was up 3.8% in Nova Scotia as of September 2022, with consistent gains across most subsectors and faster gains in accommodation and recreation/entertainment. The only decline was reported in transportation for tourism.
Nationally growth in tourism-related businesses was 2.2% over the last year with the only decline in transportation for tourism and stronger growth in travel services (which were down substantially during the height of the pandemic).
Trends
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 September 2022, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.5% (95.7% nationally). New Brunswick reported the highest business continuing rate (96.9%) while Ontario reported the lowest (94.8%).
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 3.89% as of September 2022 (4.38% nationally). Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate (5.43%) while Quebec had the lowest (3.56%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.63% in September 2022 (4.85% nationally). Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.46%) while Quebec had the lowest business closing rate (3.90%).
Construction and personal/repair services contributed the most to declining active businesses in Nova Scotia from August to September 2022.
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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