Monthly estimates of business openings and closures, January 2024

Released: 2024-04-29

In January, the business closure rate contracted 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%, a rate corresponding to the 2015-to-2019 historical average, following an increase of 0.3 percentage points in December 2023. The business opening rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 4.6% in January 2024 after holding steady at 4.7% from August to December 2023. In January 2024, the business opening rate was slightly below its historical average of 4.7%.

As the number of business openings was slightly higher than that of closures, the number of active businesses edged up 0.1% or 760 businesses in January. In the same month, payroll employment rose 0.2% while there was a 0.6% increase in the real gross domestic product (GDP). The growth of the real GDP was led by the recovery in educational services after declines in November and December 2023 due to the strikes by public sector workers in Quebec.

In January 2024, business closures dropped or were relatively unchanged in all sectors. The overall decline in business closures was mainly driven by retail trade (-272 compared with the number of closures in December 2023; 21.5% contribution to the decline in business sector closures) followed by construction (-168; 13.3%) and wholesale trade (-164; 13.0%).

The slight contraction in business openings in January 2024 was widespread across sectors. The majority of the change in the number openings from December 2023 to January 2024 was concentrated in construction (-276 openings in January compared with December; 29.9% contribution to the decline in business openings), transportation and warehousing (-219; 23.8%) and professional, scientific and technical services (-158; 17.1%). Along with accommodation and food services (-114; 12.4%), these sectors together accounted for 83.2% of the decline in openings from December 2023 to January 2024.

In January, Quebec (-552 closures compared with December 2023; 37.6% contribution to the decline in business closures) drove the decline in business closures, followed by Ontario (-445; 30.3%) and British Columbia (-239; 16.3%). Business closures changed little in the other provinces and in the territories. On the other hand, Ontario (-936) accounted for 70.0% of the change in business openings from December 2023 to January 2024.

Chart 1 
Percent contribution of sectors to the decline in openings and in closures, December 2023 to January 2024, seasonally adjusted data

Chart 2 
Percent contribution of provinces and territories to the decline in openings and in closures, December 2023 to January 2024, seasonally adjusted data

Contact information

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