The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis. The survey now includes information for businesses with multiple locations.
BTOS gathers data that complements other economic surveys, focusing on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. It covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. The survey provides continuous and timely updates every two weeks, offering detailed geographic and subsector information. This allows BTOS to capture the effects of events such as natural disasters or economic crises and helps monitor recovery efforts.
Approximately 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample, with biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of about 200,000 each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey takes respondents around nine minutes.
Results from BTOS will be released every two weeks and will be available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. Local, state, and federal officials use this real-time data to support policymaking and decision-making processes. Businesses also rely on this information to guide their economic decisions.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; it was distributed as a tip sheet only.
