'It's just unmanageable, unbearable': Sask. small businesses feeling the pinch as unemployment rises for 3rd month in a row | Canada News Media
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‘It’s just unmanageable, unbearable’: Sask. small businesses feeling the pinch as unemployment rises for 3rd month in a row

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While national job numbers have economists across Canada feeling optimistic – the story in Saskatchewan is not as uplifting. Unemployment is up for the third month in a row.

Canada’s economy may be creating more jobs than expected but businesses are still facing pressure from rising costs.

T + A Vintage, a small business in Regina, says those pressures will force it to close at the end of the month.

“The sales and the profit just aren’t quite there and the higher expenses between utilities, food costs and things like that,” owner Tim Weisgarber told CTV News.

“It’s just unmanageable, unbearable.”

Saskatchewan’s unemployment rate now sits at 5.4 per cent, up 0.3 from August.

“Any small business owners you talk to will tell you that people in Saskatchewan are poorer than they were five years ago,” NDP MLA Aleana Young told reporters.

“Consumer confidence is down, spending is down, small businesses are struggling because households and businesses are struggling to pay the bills.”

While the provincial government didn’t deny the latest statistics – it was quick to turn the spotlight to the past and the NDP’s record.

“The fact of the matter remains that Saskatchewan has created more jobs so far this year, than during the entire 16 years the NDP were in power,” Minister of Trade and Export Development Jeremy Harrison said in a statement to CTV News.

“They actually lost jobs and population declined.”

The province’s sentiments is little consolation for Weisgarber and T + V Vintage.

“You know you fight for as long as you can but there comes a point where you have to back out and move on and so we made that decision and it’s a tough one to make,” he said.

“We have the best customers, the best vendors, the best staff and we want to thank everyone for supporting us over the last nine years.”

T + A Vintage’s story is not completely over.

The establishment plans to reinvent itself as a pop-up vendor at various marketplaces, thus eliminating some of the pressures faced by businesses with storefronts.

 

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Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

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Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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