May 2008, vol. 10, no. 1 - Peformance Trends

• Job creation in Canada rose by 319 939 jobs (2.3 percent) in the fourth quarter of 2007 compared with the same quarter in 2006. Small businesses¹ contributed 35.1 percent of the job growth and large firms contributed 50.0 percent.
• The number of self-employed workers increased at an annualized rate of 1.5 percent between 2000 and 2007. During this period, the highest rate of growth for self-employed workers was in the construction sector, which increased by 6.5 percent, followed by the educational services sector with a growth rate of 6.1 percent.
• Total business insolvencies numbered 1818 in the fourth quarter of 2007, a drop of 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006.
• Total business loans outstanding² from chartered banks continued to rise in the fourth quarter of 2007, reaching approximately $130 billion. This represents an increase of 19.3 percent from the same quarter of 2006. Small loans, those less than $0.5 million, represented 14.9 percent of total business loans, while medium-sized loans, those between $0.5 and $5 million, comprised 29.1 percent.

¹ Small businesses are defined as having fewer than 100 employees, medium-sized businesses having 100 to 499 employees and large businesses having 500 or more employees.

² Excluding non-residential mortgages, agricultural loans and customers' liability under acceptances.