The Ross Street Patio has been closed during the COVID-19 pandemic (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By David Opinko

over 12,000 respondents weigh in

Stats Canada: How businesses have been impacted by COVID-19 pandemic

Apr 30, 2020 | 1:27 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – It may not come as a surprise to most, but the majority of Canadian businesses have been hit hard in the last two months.

Representatives from 12,600 companies across the country took part in an online questionnaire on Statistics Canada’s website to talk about how the public health crisis has impacted them.

“Readers should note that unlike other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada, crowdsourcing data are not collected using a probability-based sample design. As a result, the findings reported below cannot be applied to the overall Canadian economy,” reads a disclaimer on the agency’s website.

Nearly one-third of all respondents say that their revenues in the first quarter of 2020 declined by at least 40 per cent from the same time last year.

The sectors that were the most likely to see revenues fall by more than 20 per cent include accommodation and food services (72.6 per cent said this), entertainment and recreation (66.7 per cent), and retail trade (60.3 per cent).

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On the other hand, some sectors saw no change in revenues or an increase in revenues, including utilities (40.4 per cent) and approximately 40 per cent of companies in agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting.

Albertans were the most likely to say that their revenues fell by at least 20 per cent with 57.7 per cent in the province reporting this, compared to 56.3 per cent in Ontario, 54.8 per cent in British Columbia, 53.5 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador, and 52.8 per cent in Saskatchewan.

Just under two in five companies have reduced staff hours or shifts while just over the same amount have laid people off.

27 per cent have made no changes in regards to staffing since social distancing measures came into effect.

The COVID crisis has forced some companies to get creative in the ways they do business. 45.4 per cent have added new ways of interacting with or selling to customers and 38.1 per cent have increased the use of virtual connections internally.

Percentage of businesses that reported layoffs to staff and laid off 80 per cent or more of their workforce, March 2020. (Stats Canada)