The results of the semi-annual HSBC Global Small Business Confidence Monitor, small business owners worldwide are bullish on the first half of 2010. Many indicating they plan to increase capital investment and recruitment.
Canadian business owner respondents to the survey are confident on economic growth, capital investments and recruitment. However, the survey found Canadian business owners need to broaden their geographic reach for consistent, strong growth.
According to the report released the first week of February, in Canada, nearly 20% of respondents say they do business internationally, compared with an average 31% for the 20 countries surveyed. Thirty-nine per cent of Canadian business owners cited bureaucratic red tape as the chief barrier to operating globally, followed by lack of product demand (37%), lack of knowledge or contacts in overseas markets (35%), low profit margins (34%), high shipping and storage costs (32%), and unstable financial conditions (31%). More than 6,000 businesses across 20 countries were surveyed.
Meanwhile, Canada’s job market continued a six-month surge in January, creating 43,000 jobs even as payrolls in the U.S. kept shrinking. According to a February 6, 2010 Canwest News Service report, employment in Canada has grown by a total of 137,600 since bottoming out last July. The job market gain in January was strong, at 43,000 jobs, although nearly all were part-time ones, which generally pay less. Unemployment fell one tenth of a point to 8.3 per cent, the best reading since it peaked at 8.7 per cent last summer.
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