Why Your Small Business is Huge to Canada’s Economy

It’sespecially difficult to own a small business duringapandemic, and it may beeven hardertoappreciatehow much your business matters—not only to you, but to millions of Canadians.SMBs make up 99.8% of all businesses in CanadaAccording toBDC, 98.2%of all businesses in Canada are small businesses (fewer than 100 employees). When we factor in medium-sized enterprises (100 to 499 employees), that number jumps to 99.8%.SMBs create jobsAt least 70%of the Canadian workforce is employed by small and medium enterprises. According toWagepoint, 85.3%of all new jobs (1.2 million jobs) were created by small and medium businesses from 2003 to 2017.In fact, anRBC Small Business pollrevealed that 63%of Canadians prefer to work for a small business.Small businesses provide agreater sense of safetyAccording topublic opinion researchconducted in December 2020, almost three-quarters of Canadians said they feel safer shopping at a small local business with limited capacity than at abig box storeduring thepandemic.Canadiansvalue small businessesPerhaps the most rewarding reason why SMBs mean so much: Canadians love them!According toRBC’s 2020 Small Business Poll, 80%of Canadians surveyed said the pandemic has helped them realize how important small businesses are to their community. The poll also found that:

• 81%of respondents directly support a local business

• 67%would be willing to pay more to support a small business during the pandemic

While your business may be considered small or medium, the impact it has on your community, and our country, is large.