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 survey, which includes information from multiunit and multilocation businesses, aims to complement other economic surveys by collecting ongoing data on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the country except for farms. It provides biweekly updates that offer detailed insights into economic measures at both geographic and subsector levels. This approach allows the survey 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 data collection occurring every two weeks. 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, it takes an average respondent around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be available by sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. The results provide real-time information that local, state, and federal officials can use for policymaking and decision-making purposes. Businesses can also use this information when making their own economic decisions.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
