Business conditions in Canada, first quarter of 2021
Release date: March 5, 2021
Description: Business conditions in Canada, first quarter of 2021
Business conditions in Canada, first quarter of 2021
Business expectations over the next three months
- 70.6% expect to keep the same number of employees
- 14.0% expect to raise their prices
- 41.8% expect profitability to decrease
- 31.4% expect fluctuations in demand for their goods and services to be an obstacle
Workforce challenges and changes
Over the next three months…
- 24.1% of businesses expect that recruiting and retaining skilled employees will be a challenge
- 19.5% of businesses expect that shortage of workers will be a challenge
Over the next year…
- 16.3% of businesses plan to provide training to current employees in a different skill set
- 8.0% of businesses plan to hire staff with technical skills that current employees lack
- 9.4% of businesses plan to hire staff with knowledge or non-technical skills that current employees lack
Revenues
- 31.0% of businesses reported that revenues were down 30% or more in 2020 compared with 2019
Business survival
- 21.3% of businesses reported that they can continue to operate at their current level of revenue and expenditures for less than 12 months before considering laying off staff
- 10.3% of businesses reported that they can continue to operate at their current level of revenue and expenditures for less than 12 months before considering closing or declaring bankruptcy
- 39.9% of businesses reported that they were unable to take on more debt
Online sales
- 17.6% of businesses made sales online in 2019
- 21.6% of businesses made sales online in 2020
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, first quarter of 2021.
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