Statistics Canada conducted the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions from October to early November 2022. The survey collects information on the environment businesses are currently operating in and their expectations moving forward.
The combination of supply chain issues, inflationary pressures and labour challenges has impacted businesses in a number of different ways. Businesses continued expecting to face a variety of obstacles over the next three months (results vary by participant depending on when they responded and range from October 2022 through February 7, 2023) related to supply chains, rising inflation, rising cost of inputs, rising transportation costs, as well as hiring and retention.
29.8% of businesses that are facing challenges maintaining inventory levels or acquiring inputs, products and supplies, either domestically or abroad, expected these challenges to worsen in the short term. Over the next three months, almost half of businesses expected their operating expenses to increase, more than one-third expected their profitability to decrease, nearly one-third expect to increase the prices they charge, and four-fifths expected their number of employees to remain the same.
Future outlook remains relatively unchanged from the previous quarter, with 70.3% of businesses reporting being either very optimistic or somewhat optimistic about their future outlook over the next 12 months.
To read the full results, visit the Statistics Canada website.
Source: Statistics Canada
