CFIB says Alberta small business confidence continues to tumble

by Morinville News Staff

Alberta is once again the lowest in country for business confidence, according to a recent report from the Candian Federation of Independent Business. The business organization said January’s numbers saw a drop of 7.6 points in January, following an 8.7 per cent drop in December, making for the worst results since 2016.

“Considering small business confidence is typically a harbinger of what is happening more broadly in the economy, it is especially worrisome,” said Richard Truscott, Vice-President, BC and Alberta. “Weak market demand coupled with rising taxes, higher energy costs, the $15 minimum wage, and a long list of new prescriptive occupational and employment regulations are weighing heavily on Alberta’s small business, and may signal more difficult times ahead for our province.”

The January report indicates only 15 per cent of survey respondents saw their business as being in a good position, a 6 point drop from December. Fifty-five per cent found business as ‘satisfactory, a 5 point increase over December. Almost one third (31 per cent) said business was bad.

CFIB say 35 percent of Alberta business owners surveyed are expecting to cut back on full-time staff over the next three to four months while 9 per cent expect to hire new employees.

The provincial results for the rest of the country in January were: PEI (69.2), Quebec (63.5), Nova Scotia (63.1), New Brunswick (61.3), Ontario (60.4), British Columbia (57.3), Manitoba (56.3), Saskatchewan (55.2), Newfoundland & Labrador (47.9), and Alberta (37.5).

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1 Comment

  1. These are the same whiners who don’t want to pay their employees a fair wage and roll back regulations meant to keep employees safe. If your business sucks, it will close. If you know what you’re doing, and have a good product or service – it won’t. They love to play the blame game while complaining they can only take one vacation a year instead of two.

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