Unincorporated Self-employment in Canada, 1989 to 2010

Canada has a large group of unincorporated self-employed businesses that play a critical role in the early lifecycle of firms. This study presents summary statistics on the importance of a particular group of the self-employed: those whose primary source of income from employment comes from an unincorporated business.

The unincorporated self-employed measured in this study are those who file the Canada Revenue Agency’s income tax return (the T1 form) and report self-employed income as the primary source of their income. The study spans the period from 1989 to 2010.