Canada’s Entrepreneurship Rate Falls 57% Since 2000 as Business Entry Lags Peers

1 articles · Updated · The Hub · Jun 3

Canada’s rate of self-employed people with paid employees fell to 1.3 per 1,000 working-age adults in 2022 from 3.0 in 2000, a sharper drop than the broader self-employment decline.
Business dynamism also weakened: the business entry rate slipped to 12.3% in 2023 from 15.2% 15 years earlier, while annual business entries were essentially flat from 2015 to 2024.
Regulatory buildup, fragmented provincial rules and tax incentives that can reward staying small are cited as key barriers to starting, expanding and scaling firms.
International comparisons deepen the concern: over 2015-2024, business entries rose 34% in the United States, 40% in the United Kingdom and nearly 86% in France.
The report argues weaker entrepreneurship is dragging productivity, wages and innovation, and frames the Hunter Prize’s up to $50,000 policy competition around reforms to revive firm formation and scale-up.