B.C.’s business confidence level dropped slightly in the past month but remains the highest in Canada, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ latest business barometer index.
The nationwide small business lobby organization pinned B.C.’s confidence level at 72.1, down slightly from 72.3 in June.
The national average similarly dropped in the past month, from 67.3 in June to 66.4 currently.
Aside from B.C. the province with the next highest level of business confidence was Newfoundland and Labrador (70.7) and Ontario (68.6). The least confident provinces were Manitoba (54.1) and Quebec (59.3).
B.C.’s high business confidence ranking translates into jobs given that 14% of small businesses owners said that they were planning to increase full time employment while 21% were planning to increase part time employment.
About 68% of business owners said that they were not expecting to change their employment levels.
CFIB’s index is measured on a scale between 0 and 100. A score above 50 means that the number of business owners who expect their business’ performance to be stronger in the next year outnumber those who expect a weaker performance. According to past results, index levels normally range between 65 and 75 when the economy is growing.