Business Investment and Economic Activity in Halton for Q1 2008

The Halton Region Business Development Centre has just released its first quarter 2008 report on business investment and economic activity in Halton. Included in the report are highlights for the region from the Statistics Canada 2006 census, investment highlights, key economic indicators, development activities, real estate market and residential overviews, and small business facts. View the full report called Q1 2008 Business Development Report.

Small Business Indicators for Halton Region

The following is notable for small business from the report’s economic indicators section (% change Q1 2007 to Q1 2008):

1. Total population for the region grew by 3%
2. Employment rate grew 3.4%; unemployment fell compared to the Toronto CMA by 1.6%
3. Number of businesses fell by 1%
4. Number of business bankruptcies increased by 13.8% (from 29 in 2007 to 33 in 2008)
5. Average household income rose by 2.3% to $113,100
6. Average housing prices rose by 25.9%
7. Speculative office construction was strong in Burlington and Oakville; industrial warehousing and distribution facilities grew in Milton
8. Total housing starts were up 46.3% with Milton showing an unprecedented 91.1%
9. 22% of all private sector enterprises employed 1 to 4 employees and 88% of all private sector enterprises had fewer than 10 employees; the total number of private sector enterprises in Halton was 37,065, mostly in Burlington and Oakville
10. The largest number of businesses in Halton were involved in the following industries: Professional Services - 20%, Finance/Insurance/Real Estate – 14.7%, Wholesale/Retail – 14.5%, Business Support Services – 10.2%, Construction/Utilities – 10%
    

Statistics Canada's Market Research Handbook: Great Info for Small Business!

Statistics Canada released the latest edition of its Market Research Handbook on April 8, 2008. This 378 page document is available to download for FREE. Should you wish to review a paper copy, check with your local public library in the next week or so as many of them will receive copies for use in their collections.


Why should you use this handbook? It contains tons of annually-collected statistics plus census 2006 data suitable for planning and growing small businesses with topics such as:

• Population Demographics, including B2B Demographics
• Labour Market and Income Statistics
• Consumer Expenditures
• Housing and Household Characteristics
• Macroeconomic and Financial Statistics including Supply Chain
• International Trade
• Business and Industry Statistics including Business Demographics
• Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations
• Projections
  
  

Rising Exchange Rate / Strong Canadian Dollar

"Loonie Tunes"

Statistics Canada published a feature article in the March edition of the Canadian Economic Observer called “Study: Loonie Tunes: Industry Exposure to the Rising Exchange Rate”; the article was written by Z. Ghanem and P. Cross. What industry is the big winner with a strong Canadian dollar? According to the summary, it’s the construction industry. Also, the “best-positioned industries are those that use large amounts of imported inputs and sell mostly in domestic, not export, markets”.

Check out the complete March edition of the Canadian Economic Observer to review current economic conditions, February economic events, tables and charts (e.g. GDP, CPI, trade volumes, labour force stats, etc.) as well as the feature article.

Posts on the Rising Canadian Dollar and Small Business

Want to review previous posts on the rising Canadian dollar and the affects on small business? Please see:

February 5/08 post called “More on “How will a strong Canadian dollar affect small business”?"

and

November 5/07 post called “How will a strong Canadian dollar affect small business?”

What Are People Buying and Where Are They Buying It (aka Spending Patterns)?

Spending Patterns in Canada

Check out a report released today called Spending Patterns in Canada. From Statistics Canada, with data from 2006, this is a direct quote from the report’s highlights:

“Household spending in 2006 continued to show the effects of the strong resource economy in the West. Spending growth in Alberta surpassed all other provinces by a wide margin.”

This publication is available online for FREE. For a quick read, browse the Analysis section; navigate through the various sections of the report using the sidebar links. For those of you who like numbers, there are tables of data to look at. There is also a pdf version of the whole report available too.

Hardly surprising, most money was spent on personal taxes, shelter and transportation (both vehicle purchases and public transportation). Other big expenditures were on wireless communication, new computer hardware, and new audio and video equipment. Notably, people spent more on health care in 2006 and less on tobacco products (a nod to an aging and more health-conscious population?).

Alberta Business

To learn more about Alberta and to take advantage of the growth taking place in that province, check out AlbertaFirst.com. This website is a provincial, municipal and industry partnership created to provide information to businesses and individuals interested in starting a business or locating to Alberta. There is a a Business Directory Search as well as a Profile page which provides links to extensive statistical data for all Alberta communities and census divisions. If you click through to the Regional MarketPlace Profiles, you will see demographic, labour force, household income and expenditure and other statistical data for 11 distinct regions in Alberta. Click through to the Investment Profiles section and you will be directed to the Government of Alberta’s Investment Attraction System, which provides economic indicator information.

Another credible website for small business information in Alberta is The Business Link: Alberta’s Business Information Service. The Business Link is a not-for-profit organization supported by the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta.

Note: Don’t forget about The Business Link for other provinces too. The main page has flags at the bottom representing each province which you click on to get to the various provincial small business pages.

U.S. Economic Census: Get the Facts on Doing Business in the U.S.

Do you do business with the U.S.? Do you want to set up a business in the U.S.? If you answered yes to either of these questions, consider looking at the U.S. Economic Census data.

The U.S. Economic Census takes place every five years in years ending in 2 and 7. Recently, 4,700,000 census forms were mailed out. The Economic Census profiles American business from the national to the local level.

Click here to see an interesting "Facts for Features" collection of U.S. statistics relating to various types of businesses. For example, find out what the average per capita spending is at drinking establishments and what services landscapers typically offer. To see more economic census releases with data from the last census (2002), click here.

The main U.S. Census Bureau page is located at this address: http://www.census.gov/. It includes population and state/community facts and figures as well as economic indicators and statistics (i.e. housing starts, total business sales) too. Click here for links to business and industry data.