The unsteady economy appears to be putting a strain on local small business owners’ confidence, according to a recent poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
The CFIB today reported its Business Barometer index dropped a further 1.6 points after a 1.3 point decline in April, landing at 64.8 – its lowest reading since November.
Business confidence
“For the most part, optimism in Canada is being kept in check by financial market jitters emanating from Europe,” said Ted Mallett, CFIB’s chief economist and vice-president.
Measured on a scale of 0 and 100, an index level above 50 means owners expecting their businesses’ performance to be stronger in the next year outnumber those expecting weaker performance. According to past results, index levels normally range between 65 and 75 when the economy is growing.
There is some good news: 21 per cent of business owners plan to increase full-time staffing levels in the next three to four months, while only 10 per cent plan to cut back. Similarly, 40 per cent of business owners describe their state of business to be in ‘good’ shape, which is almost three times the 14 per cent of owners who characterize the overall situation as ‘bad’.
Hackathon in Montreal
Programmers get to prove their mettle at the HackMTL 2nd Edition in Montreal this Saturday. The HackMTL is the Montreal-based edition of HackDays, the one-day API programming hackathon events that take place across Canada.
HackMTL runs from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. First place winner gets $1,000, second place winner gets $750 and third place winner gets $500.
For one day, teams of 1 – 3 developers work on integrating with one or more of the sponsors APIs. Judges from the local tech community judge projects based on awesomeness and technical difficulty.
Sign up here: http://hackmtl2012.eventbrite.ca/
From NextMontreal
Creative earners’ survey
Are you a creative director, graphic designer, content editor or social media manager?
Have your say and get some free stuff too, by taking the time to fill out 2012/2013 National Salary Survey of CreativeEarners
The RGD (Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario) and Creative Niche, a staffing agency that focuses on creative talent, want to build an economic profile of the industry. They also foresee the survey becoming a “useful and informative tool for all creative earners.”
Those who complete the survey will be able to download digital wallpapers created by top design firms and illustrators.
For a list of professions eligible to fill out the survey, go to: http://creativeearners.ca/
You don’t need be an RGD member to participate.
From CreativeEarners.ca