Latest report releases
- From startup to employer: a duration analysis of the time until Canadian startups hire their first employee
2025-02-05 - Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing — Data analysis, first half of 2024
- Canada Small Business Financing Program: A Firm-Level Economic Impact Analysis
- Biannual Survey of Suppliers of Business Financing — Data analysis, second half 2023
SME in Canada
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Definition
Small:
1-99 employees;
Medium:
100‑499 employees;
Large:
500 employees and more; -
Number of businesses with employees in 2021
Small:
1,187,658 (97.9%)
Medium:
22,700 (1.9%)
Large:
2,868 (0.2%)
Total:
1,213,226Source: Statistics Canada, Table 33–10–0493–01 Canadian Business Counts, with employees, December 2021.
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Number of private sector employees in 2021
Small:
8,204,600 (67.7%)
Medium:
2,476,500 (20.4%)
Large:
1,433,300 (11.8%)
Total:
12,114,400Sources: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (LFS); and calculations by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
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Contribution to gross domestic product (GDP)
From 2015 to 2019, the average contribution of small businesses to GDP was 38.1%, the contribution of medium-sized businesses was 14.3% and the contribution of large businesses was 50.0%.
Source: KSBS, December 2022