The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and future expectations on a regular basis. The survey now includes information for businesses with multiple locations.
BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States, except farms. It offers timely data every two weeks, helping to show the state of the economy through key measures such as revenue, employment, hours worked, and inventories. By providing ongoing updates with details by geography and industry subsector, BTOS can capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic downturns and support monitoring of recovery efforts.
About 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample, with data collected every two weeks. These businesses are divided into six groups of about 200,000 each; each group is surveyed once every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, “The Census Bureau estimates it takes the average respondent approximately nine minutes to complete the survey, including the time for reviewing the instructions and answers.”
Survey results will be published biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. This information provides local, state, and federal officials with up-to-date data to inform policy decisions. Businesses can also use these results when making economic plans.
“There is no news release associated with this announcement. Tip sheet only,” according to information provided by the Census Bureau.
