A report from the Four-County Labour Board continued to generate discussion at Huron County council Wednesday.
The report had been released earlier and stated that there was a 10 per cent drop in new businesses in Huron County last year.
Councillors had asked staff to look at those numbers and try to come up with an explanation.
County Planning Director Scott Tousaw suggested the Labour Board's studies are always informative but there are too many variables in the statistics for a one-year sample to accurately reflect the situation, pointing out there was an 18 per cent increase the previous year.
He suggests a five-year period might more accurately indicate growth or lack of growth, and over a five-year period that has actually been gradual growth.
Tousaw also pointed out changes in agriculture could be one of the factors contributing to the variables and adds two-thirds of the reports drops occurred in the agriculture sector.
Tousaw also points out in any study, statistics can be very helpful as long as it's understood what the statistics represent. He says in this study a business with no employees counts as one business, as does a business with 500 employees so it's important to understand the context of the information
