Numbers game

By Steve Brearton
Illustration: Seth

Small business. Big sector

Firms with fewer than 50 workers employ an estimated 4.3 million employees nationwide. That’s one out of every three Canadian workers

1.3 Millions of Canadian small businesses without an employee on the payroll.

3:2 Ratio of Canadian small-business owners who expect to hire more workers in 2009 to those expecting fewer on the payroll. The Small Business Research Board noted in February that 29% of businesses believe they will add staff this year.

4 Factor by which an employee at a firm in Canada with at least 500 employees is more likely to have a company pension than someone at a business with fewer than 20 workers, according to a 1998 study by Statistics Canada.

6 Number out of every 10 Canadian small businesses that employ family members, according to a 2007 Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) study.

11.4 Percentage of independent small businesses whose staff completed an employee feedback survey in 2004, according to a Statistics Canada study on management practices.

17.3 Cents on the dollar more earned by federal government employees compared with private-sector workers in equivalent jobs. In 2008, the CFIB said the wage gap was driving up costs for Canada’s private-sector firms and making it harder for them to find workers.

43 Percentage of Canadian small-business owners who spend time fixing mistakes in payroll administration, according to a 2006 study. The survey also found more than one in 10 paid late penalties for not filing paperwork on time.