March 15, 2023
Many of us have heard people say that small local businesses are the backbone of the Canadian economy. But how many of us know how important they really are in keeping the Canadian economy healthy?
Local companies, especially those that are classified as small, make a significant combined contribution to the GDP of Canada. In 2018, the small business sector contributed 37.5% of Canada’s GDP. Medium-sized businesses contributed another 14.4%, making the total GDP contribution from companies employing up to 500 members of staff 51.9%.
The statistics from the Government of Canada show that in 2020 there were 1.22 million businesses that employed staff in Canada. 97.9% of these Canadian businesses were small employer businesses. This represents around 1.2 million businesses in total. Only 1.9% of the companies were medium-sized and a mere 0.2% were large companies.
A further look at the statistics reveals that 55.3% of all local businesses are micro companies employing less than five people, while 18.6% of them employ between five and nine members of staff. This means that nearly 3/4 of all Canadian companies have less than ten members of staff.
