Business conditions in Canada, fourth quarter of 2021
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Description: Business conditions in Canada, fourth quarter of 2021
Business expectations over the next three months
77.4% expect to keep the same number of employees
52.9% expect profitability to remain relatively unchanged
42.5% expect the rising cost of inputs to be an obstacle
25.9% expect to raise the prices of goods and services
22.8% expect the demand for products and services to increase
18.9% expect sales to decrease
Expected labour-related obstacles over the next three months
35.4% expect recruiting skilled employees to be an obstacle
32.7% expect labour force shortage to be an obstacle
26.1% expect retaining skilled employees to be an obstacle
Business recruitment, retention and training plans over the next 12 months
48.3% plan to increase the wages of existing employees
27.0% plan to encourage employees to participate in on-the-job training
25.1% plan to increase the wages of new employees
16.0% plan to provide employees with paid time to engage in learning and development programs
10.5% plan to increase benefits offered to new employees
Business outlook over the next 12 months
50.7% have a somewhat optimistic outlook
21.9% have a very optimistic outlook
13.1% are uncertain of their outlook
11.6% have a somewhat pessimistic outlook
2.7% have a very pessimistic outlook
Business survival
33.3% reported that the absence of government support programs in the next 12 months would have a medium-to-high impact on business survival
19.4% reported that they were unable to take on more debt
15.1% reported that it would be a major challenge to repay funding received from repayable government support programs
5.6% plan to transfer, sell or close their business
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, fourth quarter of 2021.
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