The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a program that collects ongoing information about business conditions and projections. The survey covers multiunit and multilocation businesses, offering data on revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
The BTOS aims to represent all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. Data are collected every two weeks, providing continuous updates on key economic measures with detailed geographic and industry breakdowns. This approach helps capture the effects of events such as natural disasters or economic downturns and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
About 1.2 million businesses participate in the survey through biweekly data collection. The sample is divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 cases each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average of nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
Survey results are published every two weeks by sector, state, and across the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. These results provide real-time information that can assist officials at various levels of government in making policy decisions and help businesses evaluate economic conditions.
“BTOS provides insight into the state of the economy by providing continuous, timely data for key economic measures every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and subsector detail, BTOS captures the impact of events like natural disasters and economic crises and assists in monitoring recovery efforts.”
“Survey results give local, state and federal officials essential, real-time data to aid in policymaking and decision-making. In addition, the information aids businesses in making economic decisions.”
There was no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
