Contents
- Canadian small business employment statistics: Employment by firm size in Canada
- Canadian small business employment statistics by province
- Canadian small business employment statistics across industries
- Canadian small business employment statistics: Employment change in 2023–2024
- Canadian small business employment statistics: Hiring expectations by employee size
- Canadian small business employment: Historical workforce distribution and hiring expectations
- Sources
Canadian small business employment statistics: Employment by firm size in Canada
The 2025 Key Small Business Statistics report defines a small business as an enterprise with 1–99 paid employees and an SME as one with 1–499 paid employees. Its 2024 employment figures cover public and private sector workforces, while the size-group comparison below concerns private-sector employment. These categories describe enterprise size, so they should not be confused with Statistics Canada’s separate bands of 1–19, 20–99 and 100 or more employees. Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 4
| 2024 Canadian employment measure | Number (thousands) | Share of private-sector employment |
|---|---|---|
| Small businesses (1–99 employees) | 5,838.5 | 46.60% |
| SMEs (1–499 employees) | 7,972.6 | 63.63% |
| Medium-sized businesses (100–499 employees) | 2,134.1 | — |
| Large businesses (500+ employees) | 4,556.1 | — |
The small-business total was 5,838.5 thousand workers, representing 46.60% of private-sector employment. SMEs employed 7,972.6 thousand, or 63.63%. Medium-sized firms employed 2,134.1 thousand and large businesses 4,556.1 thousand. The report also records 5,306.3 thousand public-sector employees and 17,835.0 thousand employees across public and private sectors in its enterprise-size framework. Those totals use a broader sector scope than the size-group comparison. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 4
Another view uses employee bands and a different denominator. Statistics Canada reports that businesses with 1–19 employees collectively employed 4.5 million individuals in 2024, equivalent to 24.4% of the national employed population. Businesses with 20–99 employees employed 3.7 million, or 20.3% of total employment. These figures provide context about the workforce, but the bands do not align exactly with ISED’s 1–99 small-business category. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, opening narrative
Canadian small business employment statistics by province
Province figures in ISED’s Table 5 are total private-sector employment, not counts of workers employed specifically by small businesses. They show the geographic distribution of private-sector jobs in 2024. The table reports provincial shares of Canadian private-sector employment alongside the employment totals in thousands. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 5
| Province | Private-sector employment (thousands) | Share of Canadian private-sector employment |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 4,973.7 | 39.7% |
| Quebec | 2,765.0 | 22.1% |
| British Columbia | 1,769.5 | 14.1% |
| Alberta | 1,550.8 | 12.4% |
Ontario had 4,973.7 thousand private-sector workers, accounting for 39.7% of the Canadian total. Quebec had 2,765.0 thousand, or 22.1%; British Columbia had 1,769.5 thousand, or 14.1%; and Alberta had 1,550.8 thousand, or 12.4%. These are all-firm-size figures. They should not be interpreted as province-level small-business employment counts. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 5
The report notes that provincial estimates are calculated residually where industry data are incomplete and describes utilities estimates used for comparability. That methodology matters when comparing provincial totals: the table is intended to present private-sector employment across provinces, not a separate census of small firms’ employees within each province. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 5 and accompanying notes
Canadian small business employment statistics across industries
ISED’s 2024 industry table reports both the number of small-business employees and small businesses’ share of employment in each industry. Employment counts are in thousands, and shares use employment in the named industry as the denominator. The examples below show that small businesses accounted for differing proportions of employment across industries; the figures do not describe industry-wide job changes. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 6
| Industry | Small-business employment (thousands) | Small-business share of industry employment |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and food services | 868.6 | 66.8% |
| Construction | 830.7 | 70.4% |
| Retail trade | 875.7 | 43.7% |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 641.6 | 52.2% |
| Manufacturing | 551.6 | 35.3% |
| Other services (except public administration) | 451.9 | 78.9% |
| Wholesale trade | 366.5 | 44.5% |
| Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services | 329.8 | — |
Retail trade had the largest listed small-business employment count in this selection, at 875.7 thousand, while accommodation and food services had 868.6 thousand. The small-business share was 43.7% in retail trade and 66.8% in accommodation and food services. Construction combined 830.7 thousand small-business employees with a 70.4% share. These are separate measures: one is a count of small-business workers in an industry, the other is their share of all employment in that industry. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 6
In professional, scientific and technical services, small businesses employed 641.6 thousand people and accounted for 52.2% of industry employment. Manufacturing had 551.6 thousand small-business employees, representing 35.3% of the industry total. Wholesale trade recorded 366.5 thousand and 44.5%, while other services (except public administration) recorded 451.9 thousand and 78.9%. Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services had 329.8 thousand small-business employees. No share is shown here for that row because the checked observation supplies the count only. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 6
The report suppresses medium- and large-business estimates for forestry, logging and support, and for other services (except public administration). The small-business count and share for other services are reported, but suppressed values should not be treated as zero or used to infer an unreported total. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 6 and accompanying notes
Canadian small business employment statistics: Employment change in 2023–2024
ISED’s change figures measure net employment change in the Canadian private sector between 2023 and 2024. Net change (NEC) is reported in thousands; annual growth rate (AGR) is a percentage. The total row describes the net change across private-sector business sizes, while size-group rows distinguish small, medium and large businesses. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 7 and Figure 9
| Private-sector measure, 2023–2024 | Net employment change (thousands) | Annual growth rate |
|---|---|---|
| All business sizes, total | 6.9 | 0.1% |
| Small businesses (1–99 employees) | 13.3 | 0.2% |
| Medium-sized businesses (100–499 employees) | −11.1 | −0.5% |
Small businesses added 13.3 thousand net private-sector jobs, with an annual growth rate of 0.2%. Medium-sized businesses recorded a loss of 11.1 thousand, with a rate of −0.5%. Across all sizes, the net change was 6.9 thousand jobs and the annual growth rate was 0.1%. The difference between the size-group changes and the net total is reflected in the report’s contribution measure: small businesses’ contribution to net private-sector employment change was 191.0%. That percentage can exceed 100% because the net total includes offsetting gains and losses across size groups; it is not a share of all workers employed by small firms. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 7 and Figure 9
Changes also varied across industries when all private-sector business sizes are included. Construction recorded a net increase of 12.6 thousand jobs, while professional, scientific and technical services added 10.8 thousand. Retail trade had a net change of −19.6 thousand, and accommodation and food services had −4.3 thousand. These industry results are not small-business-only figures; they cover all firm sizes. Large businesses contributed 69.6% of the net private-sector employment change in 2023–2024, another contribution measure rather than a count of jobs. Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025, Table 7 and Figure 9
Canadian small business employment statistics: Hiring expectations by employee size
Statistics Canada’s second-quarter 2026 survey asked businesses whether they expected employee counts to increase, stay about the same or decrease over the following 3 months. For businesses with 1–19 employees, 9.9% expected an increase, 82.9% expected no change and 7.2% expected a decrease. These are business expectations, not observed employment gains or losses. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, Table 1
| Employee size | Expected increase in employee count |
|---|---|
| 1–19 employees | 9.9% |
| 20–99 employees | 19.5% |
| 100 or more employees | 24.6% |
The reported increase expectation was 9.9% among businesses with 1–19 employees, 19.5% among those with 20–99 employees and 24.6% among businesses with 100 or more employees. These figures describe the percentage of businesses in each employee-size band that anticipated an increase over the next 3 months. They do not measure the number of jobs expected or show how many businesses subsequently hired. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, Table 1
For the 1–19 employee group, the survey also reports that 3.6% of businesses expected an increase in vacant positions over the next 3 months. Vacancies are a distinct measure from employee counts: an expectation of more vacant positions does not itself establish that those roles were filled or that total employment increased. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, narrative following Table 1
Statistics Canada surveyed respondents from April 1 to May 6, 2026. Because the survey dates differed, the 3-month outlook varied by response date. The values should therefore be read as expectations reported in the second quarter, with a forward-looking horizon, rather than as realized results for a single fixed calendar period. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, survey-period notes
Canadian small business employment: Historical workforce distribution and hiring expectations
The 2024 workforce distribution in Statistics Canada’s analysis uses three bands: 1–19 employees, 20–99 employees and 100 or more employees. Businesses with 1–19 employees represented 91.2% of employer businesses and employed 4.5 million individuals, or 24.4% of the national employed population. The 20–99 band represented 7.4% of businesses and employed 3.7 million individuals, or 20.3% of total employment. These figures pair business counts with employment measures, whose denominators differ. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, opening narrative
Businesses with 100 or more employees made up 1.4% of Canadian businesses in 2024. They employed 10.3 million individuals, representing 55.3% of the total employed population. The business-share statistic answers how numerous the firms in that band were among businesses; the employment share answers how much of the employed population worked for them. Neither is interchangeable with the other. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026, opening narrative
Read together, the 2024 profile and the second-quarter 2026 survey offer two different snapshots. The first describes the distribution of businesses and workers in 2024; the second records business expectations for employee counts over a subsequent 3-month horizon. The ISED figures add a separate enterprise-size framework for private-sector employment and observed net change from 2023 to 2024. Keeping their dates, size bands and denominators distinct makes the statistics useful without treating expectations as outcomes or equating unlike definitions of small business. Source: Statistics Canada, Analysis on small businesses in Canada, second quarter of 2026; Source: ISED, Key Small Business Statistics 2025