I started tracking job creation numbers of a number of Atlantic Canadian startups in November 2016 to better understand what was happening in the ecosystem. I started taking it seriously in July 2017.

The database has grown a lot over this time.  In fact, I am now tracking 947 companies across Atlantic Canada.  As it has grown, so has the complexity. With this complexity, it means the data isn’t perfect but my data collection methods are improving each time.

Even though the data isn’t perfect it usually paints a pretty interesting picture of what is happening in the ecosystem.

Year over year the startup community has grown a lot, boosting the local job creation.  From my count, there have been roughly 1,500 net new jobs created in the ecosystem.  

However, in the last quarter, the region saw the largest contraction of jobs that I’ve seen since I started doing this.  The number of jobs declined by about 350, bringing the number of employed by the sector to 7,950. That is even with 47 new companies that I started tracking last quarter.

The good news is there are a lot of relatively young companies that are growing at a rapid pace year over year with no visible signs of slowing down.

Who hired the most in 2019?

Who hired the most last quarter (Q4 2019)?

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