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June 27, 2023BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, MARCH 2023 Statistics Canada released updated data on monthly business openings and closures for March 2023. The data are seasonally adjusted.
Monthly (March 2023 vs February 2022, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia decreased 0.14% from February to March 2023 (declining to 20,654 active businesses).
Nationally, active businesses fell by 0.16%. All provinces except Prince Edward Island (+0.12%) reported lower numbers of active businesses in March 2023 compared with February 2023. The largest declines were reported in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec.
Year-over-year (March 2023 vs March 2022)
Compared with March 2022, the number of active businesses was up 0.9 % for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses were 1.0% higher than in March 2022. All provinces reported a higher number of active businesses compared with March 2022, with the largest increase in Prince Edward Island and Ontario.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 2.7% from March 2022 to March 2023. However, the East Hants portion of the CMA was only added in June 2022, and this accounts for much of the growth compared with March 2022 (which did not include East Hants in the Halifax CMA).
Out of 30 CMAs, 25 reported growth in active businesses over the past 12 months. The cities with the largest rises in the number of active businesses were Windsor, Oshawa, Brantford and Halifax.
Compared with March 2022, the number of active Nova Scotia businesses in March 2023 was lower in forestry/fishing, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, information/culture, finance/insurance/management, accommodation/food service, and personal/repair services. From March 2022 to March 2023, there were notable percentage increases in the number of active businesses in mining/oil/gas, construction, as well as real estate/leasing, professional/technical, admin/support, and arts/entertainment/recreation.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for forestry/fishing, mining/oil/gas, wholesale trade, retail trade and finance/insurance/management. There were notable increases in real estate/leasing, utilities, professional/technical and construction.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with March 2022, the number of active tourism-related businesses was unchanged in Nova Scotia as of March 2023, with a declines in travel services, recreation/entertainment, and food/beverages subsectors offsetting increases in transportation and accommodations.
Nationally growth in tourism-related businesses was up 0.4% over the last year with the growth in travel services and food/beverage.
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 March 2023, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.5% (95.5% nationally). Quebec reported the highest business continuing rate (96.7%) while Prince Edward Island and Alberta reported the lowest (both 94.4%).
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.2% as of March 2023 (4.3% nationally). Prince Edward Island had the highest business opening rate (5.5%) while Quebec had the lowest (3.4%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.5% in March 2023 (4.6% nationally). Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.4%) while Quebec had the lowest business closing rate (3.6%).
Health/social assistance (-20), retail (-12), and accommodation/food services (-11) contributed the most to the decrease in active businesses in Nova Scotia from February 2023 to March 2023.
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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