The Small Business Branch of Industry Canada has released the July 2011 on-line issue of the Key Small Business Statistics publication. The semi-annual publication provides information on the most frequently asked questions pertaining to small businesses in Canada.

Fully 98% of businesses in Canada are considered small and they employ 47% of the labour force. The July 2011 issue updates several sections, including data on the number of businesses in Canada, job creation, firm survival, share of high-growth firms, earnings by business size, the number of self-employed workers as well as the contribution of small businesses to Canadas gross domestic product and to exports.

Highlights
There are just over one million small businesses in Canada that have employees (excludes self-employed entrepreneurs). Ninety-eight percent of businesses in Canada have fewer than 100 employees.

Between 2002 and 2007, 104 000 new small businesses, on average, were created in Canada each year. Taking into account firms that exit the marketplace, the number of firms increased by 15 000 per year, on average, over the 2002–2007 period.

Small businesses contribute slightly more than 30 percent to Canadas GDP. As of 2010, small businesses employed approximately five million individuals in Canada, or 48 percent of the total labour force in the private sector. Small businesses created about 15 000 jobs in 2010.

Over the 2001 to 2010 period, small firms accounted for 47 percent of all jobs created, on average, in the private sector. Approximately 16 percent of all employed workers in the Canadian economy in 2010 were self-employed. On average, small business employees in Canada earned around $744 per week in 2010, less than the overall average of $830. Small businesses account for over two thirds of employment in five Canadian industry categories: non-institutional health care, forestry, other services, construction, and accommodation and food.

Roughly 21 percent of small businesses operate in Canadian goods-producing industries; the remaining 79 percent operate in service industries. Survival rates for small and medium-sized businesses (with less than 250 employees) in Canada decline over time.

about 85 percent of businesses that enter the marketplace survive for one full year, 70 percent survive for two years and 51 percent survive for five years. The number of business bankruptcies in Canada fell by 56 percent between 2000 and 2010 to about 5200 in 2010. about 86 percent of Canadian exporters were small businesses. In 2009, small businesses were responsible for $68 billion, or about 25 percent of Canadas total value, of exports.

www.ic.gc.ca