Canadian businesses had a rough year throughout 2024, and it didn’t get much better by year end. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows a slight drop in the number of active businesses in November. Annual growth remained positive but just barely, printing the lowest rate since 2021, when the economy was locked down & restrictions on trade were put in place.
Canada Saw 2,300 Fewer Businesses Survive & Proceed To The Next Round of Its Hunger Games
Canadian businesses are still navigating a tough environment. The seasonally adjusted data shows just 890.3k businesses continued operating in November, about 0.26% (-2.3k) fewer than the previous month. It was the fewest businesses to advance to the next round of the Canadian Hunger Games since January 2023—nearly two years ago. Not a great start to the data.
Total active businesses in the month, which include the balance of those that opened and closed, took a smaller hit. Seasonally adjusted monthly growth fell 0.06% (-528 businesses) to 936.9k active businesses in November, marking the second drop. The good news is this is roughly the same as last year, but the bad news is that’s not great with a population growing at 2-3% per year.
Canada’s Business Growth Is Flatlining
The 12-month change in the total number of active businesses operating in Canada at month-end.
Source: Statistics Canada; Better Dwelling.
Speaking of growth, the annual rate is starting to present some concerns worth tracking. Annual growth remains barely positive, it’s at the lowest rate since February 2021. There’s no way to put a positive spin the slowest growth since the year the economy was literally locked down.
The monthly downtick isn’t a huge issue by itself. Despite being seasonally adjusted, month-to-month data can have significant swings by month. However, when combined with the rapid erosion and pandemic-like growth, while its population has expanded at a breakneck speed? To say it’s a concerning outlook is a generous way of framing this setup.
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