In Canada, high-growth enterprises play an important role in employment, accounting for a large share of job creation.
In Statistics Canada’s Entrepreneurship Indicators Database, a high-growth enterprise is defined as an enterprise that exhibits average annualized growth of greater than 20 per cent per year over a three-year period (72.8 per cent growth over three years), and has at least 10 employees at the start of the three-year period. This can be measured as growth in revenues or employment. The headline indicator for this goal uses the revenue measure.
Measured by revenue growth, the largest number of high-growth firms in Nova Scotia in 2019 were in construction and professional, scientific and technical services. Compared to the previous period ending in 2018, there were fewer high-growth firms in retail trade and accommodation and food services, and more in construction. Several sectors have suppressed data for 2019. Overall, there was an increase in the number of high-growth enterprises when measured by revenue and an increase in the share of high-growth firms among total enterprises from 4.5% in 2018 to 4.7% in 2019. The Canadian average rose from 5.8% to 6.2% in the same period.
When measured by employment growth, Nova Scotia had 160 high-growth enterprises for the 2016-2019 period, which accounted for 3.1% of all enterprises with at least 10 employees in 2019. This remains below the Canadian average of 3.4%.
High growth enterprises by employment and revenue, Nova Scotia, 2019
| Number of enterprises | Share of total enterprises | Canadian Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High growth by employment | 160 | 3.1% | 3.4% |
| High growth by revenue | 240 | 4.7% | 6.2% |
The table below shows the number of high-growth enterprises by industry in Nova Scotia for the 2016-2019 period, rounded to the nearest 10 to maintain confidentiality. An ‘X’ indicates a number too small to report.
High growth (HG) enterprises, measured by employment and revenue, Nova Scotia, 2019
| HG by employment | HG by revenue | |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting | X | X |
| Mining and Oil and Gas extraction | X | X |
| Utilities | 0 | 0 |
| Construction | 30 | 50 |
| Manufacturing | 20 | 20 |
| Wholesale Trade | 10 | 20 |
| Retail Trade | 20 | 20 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | X | 10 |
| Information and Cultural Industries | X | 10 |
| Finance and Insurance | X | X |
| Real Estate and Rental and Leasing | X | X |
| Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services | 20 | 30 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | X | X |
| Administrative and Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services | 10 | 20 |
| Educational Services | X | X |
| Healthcare and Social Assistance | 10 | 20 |
| Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 10 | 10 |
| Accommodation and Food Service | 20 | 20 |
| Other Services (not including Public Administration) | 10 | 10 |
| Primary Industries Subtotal | X | 10 |
| Subtotal Excluding Primary Industries | X | 230 |
| Total | 160 | 240 |
CHANGES TO THE INDICATOR, BASELINE, OR TARGET:
- In The (Ivany) Report of the Nova Scotia Commission on Building Our New Economy, Goal 4 was to increase the number of business start-ups in the province by 50%. However, the number of newly registered businesses in a year has been on a downward trend nationally and provincially for an extended period. This suggests drivers unrelated to economic activity are at play, and that this indicator was not measuring what the goal intended. Thus, this goal has been updated with a new indicator – the number of high-growth firms in the province. This indicator is thought to better represent the “start-up culture” this goal was intended to measure.
- For the new indicator, the original goal -- to increase the number of these firms by 50% -- was maintained. With the baseline number of 310, the new target is 465.