'We are once again seeing negative staffing plans and more owners who say their business is in bad shape'
With renewed lockdowns and restrictions, employers are showing less optimism, according to a Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) survey.
Three in 10 (31 per cent) say their business is in bad shape, while 29 per cent estimate it is in good shape. In December, those figures were inversed, with only 19 per cent saying their business was in bad shape and 39 per cent saying their business was in good shape.
Also, 24 per cent of business owners think they will reduce full-time staff in the next three months while only 16 per cent plan to hire.
"The last time optimism was this low was in the spring of 2020. We are once again seeing negative staffing plans and more owners who say their business is in bad shape than those who say it is in good shape," says Simon Gaudreault, vice-president of national research at CFIB. "This really underlines how precarious the situation is for a lot of small businesses."
CFIB’s three-month index is now 34.5, down by more than 10 points, while the 12-month outlook is 52.4, the lowest reading since April 2020, found the survey of 503 CFIB members conducted on Jan. 6 and 7, 2022.
"These data are deeply worrisome," says Dan Kelly, CFIB president. "Sadly, COVID restrictions/lockdowns and consumer panic have caused business confidence to plummet. CFIB is calling on provinces to announce a quick end to COVID restrictions and all governments to return to similar levels of support as were in place early in the pandemic."
Back in September, 60 per cent of global business leaders were confident about growth prospects, according to another study.
CFIB is also recommending that governments:
- reopen the wage and rent subsidy to all businesses experiencing revenue losses on a sliding scale basis
- reopen the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loan program with an additional $20,000 loan, increasing the forgivable portion to 50 per cent
- expand provincial grant programs and make them available to all businesses experiencing a reduction in revenues
"This may be the most economically dangerous point in the pandemic," says Kelly, adding that businesses are desperately weakened after two years of restrictions, and they've taken on an average of $170,000 in debt.
“Now, just as they were beginning to recover in the fall, governments have gone back to lockdowns and capacity restrictions without fully returning to the support programs that were in place early in the pandemic. This needs to change today if we want to avoid mass casualties in the small business community."
More than three in 10 (31 per cent) of Canadians want pandemic aid from the government to end completely, according to a previous report.
