Canadian Small Biz Index Passes Year-Ago Level

Things are looking up – at least compared to somewhat recent conditions – in Canada.  The American Express Small Business Index is at its highest level in over a year, and in terms of letter grades, that puts the situation at what many students would consider an acceptable "C."

A C- (or 61 percent) is what circumstances warranted in March of 2009, so we’ve achieved a five percent improvement since then.  Which is impressive enough on its own.  Wait until you hear some of the details, though.

An official report stated, "As of May, 37 per cent report that their business is experiencing a downturn, a marked drop from 50 per cent this past January, and 52 per cent in March 2009.  Also encouraging is that those reporting a ‘significant’ downturn in business have dropped to just 14 per cent, compared with the 20-21 per cent consistently reported by the monitor over the past year."

Furthermore, in May, "52 per cent of small business owners said they were extremely or a little stressed, down from 56 per cent in January and a high of 66 per cent in March 2009."  So lots of progress is taking place, even if there’s still quite a bit left to achieve.

Let’s hope the American Express Small Business Index just keeps rising and correlates to a C+ or even a solid B the next time around.

For the record, 564 small business owners were involved in the poll, and the group was supposed to be a representative sample.