Canada's business openings rate in April was unchanged at 4.6%, while the business closure rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 4.5%; the number of active businesses was relatively unchanged: Statistics Canada

OTTAWA , July 29, 2024 (press release) –

In April, the business closure rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 4.5%, after holding steady at 4.6% over the previous three months. The opening rate was 4.6% in April, unchanged from the previous two months. In April, both the opening and the closure rates were 0.1 percentage points below their respective 2015-to-2019 historical averages.

As the number of business openings was comparable with that of closures, the number of active businesses remained relatively unchanged in April 2024 (0.0% growth rate; +273 businesses compared with March). In fact, the number of active businesses has remained stable since January. In April, payroll employment edged down 0.1%, real gross domestic product grew by 0.3% and business insolvency filings decreased slightly to 551 from 569 in March.

In April, business closures dropped slightly or remained relatively unchanged in all sectors. The slight contraction in the business sector closures was driven by construction (-145 closures compared with March; 24.2% contribution to the decline in business sector closures), professional, scientific and technical services (-140; 23.4%) and real estate and rental and leasing (-77; 12.9%).

The change in the number of business openings from March to April varied across sectors but was generally small. Accommodation and food services (+171 openings compared with March; 39.6% contribution to the change in business sector openings) posted the largest positive growth, followed by retail trade (+105; 24.3%) and manufacturing (+87; 20.1%). In contrast, other services (except public administration) (-41; -9.5%) and finance and insurance, and management of companies and enterprises (-40; -9.3%) posted the largest negative changes.

The changes in the components of the opening rate differed from March to April. The entry rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 1.7%, while the re-opening rate remained unchanged at 2.9%, the same level as its historical average. The entry rate was 0.1 percentage points below its historical average of 1.8%.

Chart 1: Monthly business openings and closures as a percentage of active businesses, business sector, January 2022 to April 2024, seasonally adjusted data

Chart 2: Percent contribution of sectors to the increase in openings and the decrease in closures, March to April 2024, seasonally adjusted data

Note to readers
For more information on the data presented in this release, see the Monthly Business Openings and Closures (5401) survey page.

Contact information
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