Quarterly results from the Business Outlook Survey (BOS) are based on interviews with about 33 small firms, 33 medium-sized firms and 34 large firms. This page presents BOS data for each of these groups. For more information, see the backgrounder.
Firm sizes are defined as follows: small firms have 10 to 99 employees, medium-sized firms have 100 to 499 employees, and large firms have 500 or more employees. Because the responses are presented here as four-quarter moving averages, these charts may not show the same movements as the aggregate BOS data published each quarter.
As of 2023Q1, Chart 1-A: Past sales declines will replace Chart 1-B: Past sales growth. See Backgrounder on removing the past sales growth question from the Business Outlook Survey for details.
Business activity
Chart 1-B: Past sales growth
* Percentage of firms reporting faster growth minus the percentage reporting slower growth
Note: This question has been removed from the Business Outlook Survey as of the first quarter of 2023 survey.
Chart 2: Future sales growth
* Percentage of firms expecting faster growth minus the percentage expecting slower growth
† Percentage of firms reporting that indicators have improved minus the percentage reporting that indicators have deteriorated
Chart 3: Investment in machinery and equipment
* Percentage of firms expecting higher investment minus the percentage expecting lower investment
Chart 4: Credit conditions
* Percentage of firms reporting tightened terms and conditions minus the percentage reporting eased terms and conditions. For this question, the balance of opinion excludes firms that responded “not applicable.”
Chart 5: Future employment level
* Percentage of firms expecting higher levels of employment minus the percentage expecting lower levels
Pressures on production capacity
Chart 6: Ability to meet demand
* Share of firms reporting some or significant difficulty
Chart 7: Labour shortages
* Share of firms reporting labour shortages
† Percentage of firms reporting more intense labour shortages minus the percentage reporting less intense labour shortages
Wages, prices and inflation
Chart 8: Wage growth
* Percentage of firms expecting higher labour cost increases minus the percentage expecting lower labour cost increases
Chart 9: Input price inflation
* Percentage of firms expecting greater price increases minus the percentage expecting lesser price increases
Chart 10: Output price inflation
* Percentage of firms expecting greater price increases minus the percentage expecting lesser price increases