Six facts about entrepreneurship in Canada

At GoForth Institute, we like to keep an eye on the state of entrepreneurship in Canada. Here are six facts we dug up that show how Canadian small businesses are faring:

• 98% of businesses in Canada are small businesses.
• 55.1% of Canada’s firms are micro-businesses – or have fewer than five employees
• 80% of small businesses survive one year, but only 72% survive two years. Just half of small businesses survive to their fifth year.
• Of Canada’s 1.1 million small businesses with employees, 87.4% have
 fewer than 20 employees.
• Small businesses create almost 70% of all jobs in the private labour force.
• Nearly 87% of Canadian exporters are small businesses. Small businesses are responsible for $68 billion, or about 25% of Canada’s total value, of exports.

 (Sources: Industry Canada, Statistics Canada)