The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis. The survey now includes information for businesses with multiple locations, expanding its coverage of employer businesses across the United States, excluding farms.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS provides continuous and timely data every two weeks for key economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. The survey is designed to offer detailed geographic and subsector information that can help capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises, supporting efforts to monitor recovery.
The BTOS sample consists of about 1.2 million businesses participating in biweekly data collection. These are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 cases each, with each panel reporting every 12 weeks over a year. The agency estimates that it takes respondents about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released biweekly and made available by sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. This information is intended to support local, state, and federal officials in policymaking as well as assist businesses in making informed economic decisions.
There was no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
