Small business confidence in BC dropped 2.9 points in July.
The new provincial Business Barometer rating is 66.4 only behind PEI at 68.8.
Richard Truscott with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says there are two reasons for the drop.
“We saw the announcement in big hikes to the minimum wage that would affect some small businesses this fall and that may be on the mind of some owners and we’ve also seen the government jump on board with the expanded Canada Pension Plan which means new costs for small businesses.”
However, Truscott believes there’s no reason to panic because index levels between 65 and 75 show the economy is growing at its potential.
Despite the decline, a good chunk of employers want to fill jobs.
“A number of small businesses say they plan to increase full-time staff in the next few months, that’s down three points from June but still a respectable 26% of our members plan to hire compared to only 9% who say they are going to cut back.”
BC’s Business Barometer index of 66.4 is higher than the national index of 57.6 and also ranks higher than Quebec, Ontario, and New Brunswick.
The least optimistic province in Canada is Alberta at 46.7.
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