Key Small Business Statistics - July 2002

How many people work for small businesses?

To best answer this question, establishments, where applicable, are consolidated into the enterprise of which they are a part. Statistics Canada defines a business enterprise as "a family of businesses under common ownership and control for which a set of consolidated financial statements is produced on an annual basis". Statistics Canada's Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH) covers employer businesses in Canada and reports the number of employees at the enterprise level. Self-employed persons who are not on their own payroll are not included in these figures, nor are employees in the following industries: agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organisations and military personnel of defence services. Firms are grouped into seven size categories: Fewer than 4 employees; 5 to 19; 20 to 49; 50 to 99; 100 to 299; 300 to 499; and 500 and more.

According to SEPH data, on average in 2001, almost 5 million employees on payroll, or 47% of the total private^{Footnote 3} labour force, worked for small enterprises with fewer than 100 employees (Table 4). Another 1.6 million or 16% worked for medium-sized firms (100 to 499 employees). In total, therefore, small and medium-sized firms employed close to 6.4 million or 62% of all employees in the private sector covered by the SEPH.

Table 4: Number of Private Sector Employees by Industry and Size of Business Enterprise, 2001^1,2,3,4

Industry	Total	Size of Business Enterprise (No. of Employees)
		0–4	5–19	20–49	50–99	Small (<100)	100–299	300–499	Medium (100–499)	Large (500 +)
Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours (SEPH), January 2002, and calculations by Industry Canada. Industry data are classified in accordance with Statistics Canada's NAICS. Note 1: SEPH data exclude self-employed workers who are not on a payroll, and employees in the following industries: agriculture, fishing and trapping, private household services, religious organizations and military personnel of defence services. The data breaking down employment by size of firm also exclude unclassified industries. Note 2: Data shown in this table exclude employment in Public Administration, postal services, public transit, educational services and institutional and other government-funded health care services, but include employment in private sector health practices and beer and liquor stores. A technical note on the separation of public and private sector employment is available; please contact Customer Services at sbrp-rppe@ic.gc.ca. Note 3: Statistics Canada cautions that data by size produced for quarters prior to year 2001 were estimated from the previous data based on the SIC-1980 and then backcasted on the new NAICS classification. Especially in the smallest size categories, more volatility in the data should be expected. Note 4: In two industries, data for firms with 300 or more employees were suppressed for confidentiality reasons but were included in both the size aggregate and industry totals. Therefore, the sum of individual industry data does not add up to the industry aggregate total nor does the sum over the size categories equal the size totals for those two industries. Size data and industry data do not always add up to their respective totals due to rounding.
Forestry	76 448	10 686	17 657	10 642	6 143	45 128	6 115	-	-	-
Mining	138 685	6 865	12 074	9 352	8 095	36 386	13 892	9 038	22 930	79 369
Utilities2	112 067	552	1 879	1 896	2 249	6 576	5 621	3 044	8 665	96 826
Construction	575 702	117 805	176 722	97 855	55 909	448 291	50 029	12 997	63 026	64 385
Manufacturing	2 037 873	48 808	177 294	215 049	206 653	647 804	339 732	144 108	483 840	906 229
Wholesale Trade	723 310	56 618	144 269	115 752	84 381	401 020	100 480	37 459	137 939	184 351
Retail Trade	1 488 916	123 423	289 180	191 330	148 603	752 536	119 403	33 938	153 341	583 038
Transportation & Warehousing2	796 247	43 000	66 779	54 707	37 587	202 074	61 622	22 651	84 273	223 553
Information & Cultural	346 620	10 356	23 312	21 038	18 445	73 151	32 702	18 805	51 507	221 962
Finance and Insurance	555 641	27 161	40 223	35 113	28 585	131 082	38 227	18 756	56 983	367 575
Real Estate and Rental	215 859	39 047	51 621	27 596	18 036	136 300	24 761	9 059	33 820	45 739
Professional Services	639 322	121 186	128 984	79 460	53 260	382 890	71 511	30 737	102 248	154 184
Manag. of Comp. & Enterp.	83 802	13 433	13 837	10 373	5 691	43 334	9 636	-	-	-
Administration, Waste Manag.	527 270	45 386	80 949	57 634	45 342	229 311	77 186	39 901	117 087	180 872
Health2	358 595	80 546	73 106	11 792	2 802	168 245	2 212	1 106	3 318	15 468
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation	223 041	13 818	38 521	35 507	25 855	113 701	35 950	13 389	49 339	59 999
Accommodation & Food	941 651	52 933	237 830	216 542	134 619	641 924	118 741	34 428	153 169	146 558
Other Services	476 021	102 643	150 376	58 693	34 396	346 108	47 303	19 493	66 796	63 116
Industry Aggregate Total2	10 317 070	914 266	1 724 613	1 250 331	916 651	4 805 861	1 155 123	453 993	1 609 116	3 444 179

The distribution of employment by size of firm varies considerably for different industries. Table 4 and Figure 3 show that in ten industries, small firms dominate, employing more than half the total number of workers. In Construction (78%), Other Services (73%), and Accommodation and Food (68%) industries, over two thirds of the total work force belongs to small businesses. In terms of the total number of people employed, Retail Trade (0.75 million), Manufacturing (0.65 million), Accommodation and Food (0.64 million), Construction (0.45 million), and Wholesale Trade (0.40 million) were the industries with the largest number of employees working for small firms, accounting for over 60% of all small firm jobs in Canada.

Figure 3: Number of Private Sector Employees by Industry and Size of Business Enterprise, 2001¹

Source: Table 4

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Footnote 3. Private sector employment in the SEPH data was identified with the aid of Employment Dynamics and Small Business Profiles data for corresponding years and by projecting trends for more recent years. A technical note on the methodology employed is available; please contact Customer Services at sbrp-rppe@ic.gc.ca. Private sector employment as defined in Table 4, in addition to the industries excluded by SEPH, excludes employment in Public Administration, postal services, public transit, educational services and institutional and other government-funded health care services, but includes employment in private sector health practices and beer and liquor stores.