Released on Oct. 5, the report points to a number of factors that have played a role in the “decades-long decline” in individuals wanting to start their own business. Currently, the self-employment rate for businesses with paid staff sits at 13.1 per cent. According to Statistics Canada, that number was just under 15 per cent in 2020 and at around 17 per cent in 2019.
Janette Jajalla, owner of the Baker’s Bowl Bakeshop in Winnipeg, said that she got started on the entrepreneurial path to join a market that her community was a part of. Having opened her business in 2016, she added there have been challenges. But through it all, she said she’s enjoying it alongside her husband.
Jajalla moved to Winnipeg in 2011. She and her husband carried on their experience in baking to then distribute products for another bakery. The plans for a separate business came when they created their own product lines. The RBC report goes further in highlighting the declining interest in business for younger Canadians, aged 35 to 44. That rate sits at 2 per cent currently, down from 3.3 per cent in 1998.But to Davidson, even if there is a decline in interest, there will always be those looking to start their own businesses.