Construction-related businesses are beginning to re-open after closing due to COVID-19. Businesses re-opened across all industries, with the greatest proportion occurring in utilities, construction, forestry, and fishing and hunting. These represented more than one-quarter of businesses that closed in March and April, reports Statistics Canada.
There was a slight decrease in business closures and a large increase in business openings from May to June.
In June, 56,296 business closures were observed in the Canadian business sector. This is 5.6 per cent less than for May, but still 44 percent higher than the pre-COVID-19 level observed in February. To compare, the number of business openings increased by 33.7 per cent from May. At the provincial level, the largest increases in business openings were observed in Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.
With the exception of Quebec, which recorded a slight increase in business closures of two per cent since May, every province and territory continued to record fewer business closures. The largest decreases occurred in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Alberta. For Quebec, the increase in business closures is largely due to an increase in other services, in transportation and warehousing, and in wholesale trade.
In all provinces and territories, with the exception of Prince Edward Island and the Yukon, the number of business closures remains higher than the pre-COVID level of February. For instance, in Ontario, the number of business closures was 47 per cent greater than the February level.
The number of business closures continued to decrease in Toronto and Vancouver by 1,578 and 455, respectively. Meanwhile, the number of businesses that closed in Montreal increased by 3.9 per cent.
Business opening largely increase in June. There were 52,723 business openings in June, an increase of 33.7 per cent compared with May.
With the gradual re-opening of the economy, nearly one in five businesses that closed in March and April re-opened by June.
In February, there were nearly 800,000 active businesses. By March, 8.3 per cent of them closed and a further 9.2 per cent closed in April, leading to a total share of 17.4 per cent of businesses that closed.
Since then, 4.1 per cent re-opened in April, 7.4 per cent re-opened in May, and 7.6 per cent re-opened in June. The proportion of active businesses that closed in March and April were lowest in utilities, wholesale trade, and manufacturing.