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August 29, 2023BUSINESS OPENING AND CLOSING, MAY 2023 Statistics Canada released updated data on monthly business openings and closures for May 2023. The data are seasonally adjusted.
Monthly (May 2023 vs April 2023, seasonally adjusted)
The number of active businesses in Nova Scotia increased 0.27% from April to May 2023 (rising to 20,747 active businesses).
Nationally, active businesses edged up by 0.18%. All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador reported higher numbers of active businesses in May 2023 compared with April 2023. The largest increase was reported in British Columbia.
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 May 2023, Nova Scotia's business continuing rate was 95.6% (95.4% nationally). Quebec reported the highest business continuing rate (96.4%) while Prince Edward Island (94.6%) and Alberta (94.8%) reported the lowest.
Nova Scotia's business opening rate was 4.6% as of May 2023 (4.7% nationally). Prince Edward Island and British Columbia had the highest business opening rates (5.5%) while Québec had the lowest (3.8%).
Nova Scotia's business closing rate was 4.3% in May 2023 (4.6% nationally). Prince Edward Island reported the highest business closing rate (5.5%) while Québec had the lowest business closing rate (3.6%).
Year-over-year (May 2023 vs May 2022)
Compared with May 2022, the number of active businesses was up 0.9% for Nova Scotia. Nationally, active businesses were 0.5% higher than in May 2022. All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick reported a higher number of active businesses compared with May 2022, with the largest increase in Prince Edward Island.
The number of active businesses in the Halifax and East Hants Census Metropolitan Area was up 2.8% from May 2022 to May 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 May 2022 (which did not include East Hants in the Halifax CMA).
Out of 35 CMAs, 29 reported growth in active businesses over the past 12 months while Kelowna reported an insignificant decline (-0.03%). Brantford and Windsor reported the largest rises in the number of active businesses while Sudbury and St. John's reported the biggest declines.
Compared with May 2022, the number of active Nova Scotia businesses in May 2023 was lower in forestry/fishing, manufacturing, wholesale, retail, transportation, information/culture, finance/insurance/management, arts/entertainment/recreation and personal/repair services. From May 2022 to May 2023, there were increases in the number of active businesses in mining/oil/gas, utilities, construction, real estate/leasing, professional/technical services, admin/support (including call centres), and accommodation/food.
Nationally, the number of active businesses was down for forestry/fishing, mining/oil/gas, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, information/culture and finance/insurance/management. There were increases in utilities, construction, transportation, real estate/leasing, professional/technical services, administrative/support (including call centres), arts/recreation, accommodation/food, and personal/repair services.
Statistics Canada has broken out specific data for tourism-related industries. Compared with May 2022, the number of active tourism-related businesses edged down 0.3% in Nova Scotia as of May 2023, with a declines in travel services, recreation/entertainment, and accomodations offsetting increases in transportation and food/beverage.
Nationally the number of tourism-related businesses was up 0.5% over the last year with the growth in travel services, accommodations and food/beverage offsetting declines in recreation/entertainment.
Trends
Construction, professional/technical, and admin/support accounted for the bulk of last month's growth for active businesses in Nova Scotia.
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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