TORONTO — The Canadian Federation of Independent Business is raising its estimate for the number of businesses that are considering closing permanently.
The organization says one in six or about 181,000 Canadian small business owners are seriously contemplating permanently closing, based on a survey of its members done last week.
Based on the forecast it says that means more than 2.4 million jobs are at risk.
An estimate by the CFIB last summer said one in seven or 158,000 businesses were at risk of going under as a result of the pandemic.
CFIB says the latest estimate is on top of the 58,000 businesses that became inactive in 2020.
It says in total, one in five businesses are at risk of permanent closure by the end of the pandemic.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2021.
