The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), an ongoing effort to measure business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey now includes data for businesses with multiple units or locations.
The BTOS is designed to represent all employer businesses in the country, except for farms. It provides timely information on key economic indicators such as revenues, employment, work hours, and inventories. Data are collected every two weeks, offering regular updates that help track the state of the economy.
According to the Census Bureau, “BTOS provides insight into the state of the economy by providing continuous, timely data for key economic measures every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and subsector detail, BTOS captures the impact of events like natural disasters and economic crises and assists in monitoring recovery efforts.”
Approximately 1.2 million businesses participate in the survey through a biweekly process. The sample is divided into six panels of about 200,000 cases each, with each panel asked to respond once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. On average, it takes respondents around nine minutes to complete the survey.
Survey results are published biweekly and are available by industry sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in terms of population. These results offer real-time data that support decision-making by officials at various government levels and also assist businesses in their own planning processes.
“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 the Census Bureau.
There was no accompanying news release; this announcement was provided as a tip sheet only.
