Trying to sort out how the pandemic is changing the commercial landscape is not as easy as it might think. In fact, it’s turning out to be counter-intuitive.
We have received a couple reports in the past few days which offer some intriguing insights into how businesses and consumers have adjusted to the pandemic, to lockdowns and to an overall reassessment of how we do things.
One report looks at the number of businesses that closed down and how many new ones have opened during COVID. Given the way we talk about this subject, you’d immediately assume many more businesses have failed than started but you’d be wrong.
In Saskatchewan we had roughly 100 more businesses in operation at the end of November than we had in July before the second wave arrived. In fact, there were more starts than failures throughout the summer and fall.
The second report comes from Dawn Desjardins, the deputy chief economist at RBC Royal Bank, who says Canadians have socked away $200 billion in savings through the pandemic suggesting a big spending spree could spur widespread growth when this is over.
