Canadian households may be even less confident about the future of the economy than we think. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows active businesses were unchanged in July. In fact, despite a booming population, the country has seen no growth in the number of businesses that operate. With businesses continuing to close at a faster rate than those opening, the problem may intensify as the global economy weakens.

Canada’s business community continues to show virtually no progress. The country reported 936,904 seasonally adjusted active businesses in July, unchanged from a month before. It was a slight improvement from a drop of 0.2% (-2,000 businesses) in June. It’s a trend that’s become sticky recently.

“… the number of active businesses has not posted a positive growth rate since January,” notes Stat Can.