Number of active businesses on P.E.I. bounces back through summer

After taking a hard hit in the spring, with hundreds more businesses than usual shutting down, P.E.I. saw a strong recovery in the summer months.

Statistics Canada released an experimental report on business openings and closures recently, covering a period up to September.

"It's not surprising that business openings actually peaked in P.E.I. in June," said Fred Bergman, a senior policy analyst with the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.

"That would have been some of those businesses that had to temporarily close due to the restrictions opening back up."

The report records whether a business had employees in a particular month, and so does not record only permanent closures. It also includes temporary and seasonal closures.

From May to June there were 339 more business closures in 2020 than during those same months in 2019. During the summer rebound, from June to September, there were 109 fewer closings.

Bergman noted that while P.E.I. is some way off from recovering all the businesses it lost during the pandemic, it has consistently tracked ahead of the Canadian average.

The number of businesses on the Island was already growing faster than the Canadian average in 2019. As a percentage, the province did not lose as many businesses in the spring, and it continues to track ahead of the rest of the country during the recovery.

In September, the province had about 95 per cent of the businesses it had in January of 2019, while the Canadian average was about 93 per cent.

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