Canadian Small Businesses Least Keen to Hire in Over Three Years

  • Seven in 10 firms plan to keep head count steady: CFIB survey
  • Historically average share of firms planning layoffs

A sign informing job-seekers of no employment outside a store in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Photographer: Darren Calabrese/Bloomberg
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Just 13% of Canadian small businesses plan to increase their head count over the next three or four months — the smallest share since January 2021 — according to a new survey from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

That’s down considerably from about a year ago, when more than one in five businesses planned to hire more employees.