Blog

Business closures in non-metro Ontario to April, 2020

Date: August 19, 2020

To see the impact of COVID-19 on business closures, Statistics Canada has recently published “experimental data” on active business, business openings and business closures.

In non-metro Ontario, from January to April, 2020, the number of active businesses declined by 5,800 businesses – a decline of 12% (marginally less than the 13% decline in metro areas). This decline was due to 18% fewer businesses openings and 243% more business closures.

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The impact of COVID-19 on rural employment up to July, 2020

Date: August 11, 2020

A special issue of “Focus on Rural Ontario” entitled COVID-19 Impact on Rural Employment: Ontario in the Canadian context up to July 2020 highlights the impact on rural Ontario with a comparison to the impact on rural employment in other provinces.

In July, the Ontario rural employment gap was less than the COVID-19 impact in urban areas (-2.7% and -7.6%, respectively). The rural gap of -2.7% is less than one-third the Canada-level gap of -8.3% and much less than the rural gap in Alberta (-15.2%) and in rural Quebec (-14.5%). 

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