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

Respond the following question with the most concise answer possible from the table. Format your answer like this: {"answer": ["YOUR ANSWER"]}. If multiple items are correct, separate them with commas. The table is captioned 'characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises and their owners in the study sample'. Answer this question using the table data: What was the average age of firms owned by immigrant-owned individuals?

{"answer": ["15.5"]}