October Small Business Month

Friday, October 02, 2009 03:46 AM

October has been officially proclaimed Small Business Month in B.C. marking 30 years the province has celebrated this sector of the provincial economy.

Here are some B.C. small business facts;

· There are about 384,300 small businesses operating in the province, representing 98 per cent of all business in B.C. Small business employs over one million people and accounts for nearly 56 per cent of all private-sector jobs in B.C.

· British Columbia leads the country in small businesses per capita, with 87.7 businesses per 1,000 people.

· Since 2001, small businesses have created 172,700 net new jobs for British Columbians - 10,800 in 2008 alone.

· In 2008 small business accounted for one-third (34%)of British Columbia's GDP, the highest of all provinces.

· The number of self-employed people in British Columbia rose 13.8 per cent between 2003 and 2008, well above the national average of 9.5 per cent.

Some of the strongest small business sectors in the province in 2008 included:

·        Construction, adding 1,277 small businesses.

·        Business services, adding 635 new firms.

·        High technology, adding 169 small businesses.

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Posted on Friday, October 02, 2009 03:46 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Shellshadow on October 2 2009 10:54 AM

Let us all hope that these small business can all survive in the years to come. Global news had a piece about this and the outlook looks grim for some of those featured. Let us all hope for the best because I believe small business is a very good thing. :}

Posted by: Harbinger on October 2 2009 6:54 PM

Banks never did like small business. The government of the day awhile back told the banks to smarten up and treat small business a lot better. But then again, it takes a lot to go into any business. You have three levels of government doing everything they can to stop you from starting up and then the ever threatening banks. My hat is off to small business owners. We are from the government and we are here to help you.

Posted by: supertech on October 2 2009 11:01 PM

The bank sure liked me! I don't do small business any more - - too many taxes to collect for no reward. Small business tax was raised a year ago. Of course they are going to go after small business because they don't give political contributions and they aren't usually rich influential people, like a certain Ford dealer, who is doing OK now without his dealership.