Future of work

This analysis covers how COVID-19 negatively impacted small businesses across Canada. Following the onset of the pandemic, Canada experienced a drastic drop in its real gross domestic product (GDP), with the economy contracting 18.2% between March and April 2020. From mid-January to mid-February 2021, Statistics Canada conducted the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions, which showed that smaller businesses expected more significant impacts, such as a decrease in profitability and sales. Despite making 50% or more of their total sales online, small businesses are not expected to see a sharp increase in profitability nor the ability to hire more employees. Compared to much bigger organizations, small businesses are also not going to be able to adopt technologies such as collaboration tools and cloud solutions, which will render them less competitive. This bleak outlook has the potential to affect the whole economy, given that small businesses make up 98% of all employer businesses in Canada.