The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections across the United States. The BTOS, which includes information from multiunit and multilocation businesses, collects data on key economic measures such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
The survey is designed to represent all employer businesses in the country except farms. Data are collected every two weeks from a sample of about 1.2 million businesses. These businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over the course of a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent approximately nine minutes to complete the survey.
By releasing biweekly data that include sectoral, state-level, and metropolitan area breakdowns for the 25 most populous metro areas, BTOS provides continuous insight into economic trends. The ongoing nature of this data collection allows for monitoring the effects of events such as natural disasters or economic crises and supports efforts to track recovery.
“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,” according to a statement from the Census Bureau.
There was no separate news release issued with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
