The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), an ongoing survey that tracks business conditions and projections across the country. The BTOS now includes information for businesses with multiple locations, expanding its coverage.
The survey provides continuous data on key economic indicators such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. Unlike some other economic surveys, BTOS collects data every two weeks and covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. This frequent reporting allows for timely insights into how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and supports monitoring of recovery efforts.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey takes respondents about nine minutes on average.
Data from the BTOS will be published biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas. These results are intended to provide real-time information for officials at various levels of government to support policymaking and decision-making processes. Businesses can also use this data to inform their own economic strategies.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
