Monthly estimates of business openings and closures, August 2024
Released: 2024-11-25
In August, the business closure rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 4.8%, following a decline by a similar amount in July. The closure rate was 0.2 percentage points above its 2015-to-2019 monthly historical average in August. The business opening rate held relatively steady at 4.6% for the third consecutive month in August 2024 and was 0.1 percentage points below its historical average.
As the number of business closures exceeded the number of business openings, the number of active businesses dropped by 0.1% (-930 businesses) in August. In the same month, payroll employment was little changed and real gross domestic product was essentially unchanged.
The increase in closures in the business sector in August was mainly driven by health care and social assistance (+194 closures compared with July; 35.0% contribution to the decrease in business sector closures), construction (+118; 21.3%) and other services (except public administration) (+82; 14.8%). In the remaining sectors, business closures were little changed.
Business openings remained relatively unchanged in most sectors in August. In addition, the 0.1 percentage points decline in the reopening rate (from 3.0% in July to 2.9% in August) was offset by the 0.1 percentage points increase in the entry rate (from 1.6% to 1.7%). In August, the reopening rate was equal to its historical average, while the entry rate was 0.1 percentage points below its historical average.
In August, the number of active businesses dropped or changed little across sectors, with the exception of health care and social assistance (+212 active businesses compared with July). The decline in the number of active businesses in the business sector was led by retail trade (-111 businesses compared with July; 27.3% contribution to the decline in the number of active businesses in the business sector), accommodation and food services (-106; 26%) and construction (-102; 25.1%).
Chart 1
Number of active businesses, business sector, January 2023 to August 2024, seasonally adjusted data
Chart 2
Percent contribution of sectors to the decrease in the number of active businesses, July to August 2024, seasonally adjusted data
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Note to readers
With each release, data for the preceding month are revised as additional information becomes available. This may also involve minor revisions to historical data due to seasonal adjustment. Users are encouraged to use the most up-to-date data available for each month.
Percentages in Chart 2 represent the contribution of each sector to the business sector's overall variation. The percentage is negative when the direction of the sector's variation is different from that of the overall variation, and it's positive when sectoral and overall variation are in the same direction.
More precisely, a sector's contribution is negative if it shows a decrease in active businesses, while the total number of active businesses has increased. Similarly, a sector's contribution is negative if it shows an increase in active businesses, while the total number of active businesses has fallen.
For more information on the data presented in this release, see the Monthly Business Openings and Closures (5401) survey page.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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