characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises and their owners in the study sample
Table:
all private-sector smes
smes in kbis

all smes
immigrant owned
canadian-born owned
all smes
immigrant owned
canadian-born owned

percent

firm characteristics

owner started firm
75.0
77.8
74.2
89.3
91.5
88.3

number

average firm age
19.0
15.5
20.0
14.2
12.0
15.1

percent

annual growth in the last three years

negative growth
13.4
14.9
12.9
14.2
13.5
14.5

no growth
20.7
20.9
20.6
16.9
16.0
17.3

1% to 10%
46.1
46.1
46.1
45.3
52.2
42.5

11% to 20%
11.4
10.6
11.6
12.2
7.7
14.0

21% or more
8.5
7.4
8.9
11.4
10.6
11.8

average sales outside canada
4.2
6.2
3.6
10.9
15.0
9.2

number

average number of employees
10.2
8.8
10.6
9.8
8.6
10.3

percent

share of smes in kbis
9.8
12.5
9.0
..
..
..

number

owners' characteristics

average age
51.7
52.0
51.5
51.2
51.1
51.3

average years of experience owning a firm
20.8
19.4
21.2
18.7
17.0
19.4

average years residing in canada
..
29.1
..
..
26.8
..

percent

mother tongue

english
60.2
29.6
69.4
63.4
36.6
74.6

french
21.4
4.5
26.5
17.5
5.7
22.4

other
18.4
65.9
4.2
19.1
57.7
3.0

educational attainment

less than high school
8.1
6.0
8.8
1.1
0.3
1.5

high school diploma
23.4
16.8
25.3
8.9
3.0
11.3

some postsecondary
30.7
24.4
32.6
20.6
12.9
23.8

bachelor's degree
23.4
30.9
21.1
39.2
42.1
37.9

graduate degree
14.4
21.9
12.2
30.2
41.7
25.4

Give a precise answer to the following question using only the table information. Enclose the answer in the list of the following JSON object {"answer": ["YOUR ANSWER"]}. If more than one item applies, separate items with commas. 'characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises and their owners in the study sample' is the caption of the table. Please answer the question according to the table: Immigrant-owned firms were smaller, what was an average of employees per firm?

{"answer": ["8.8"]}