The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey covers multiunit and multilocation businesses, collecting information on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
BTOS is designed to represent all employer businesses in the country except for farms. It provides continuous data every two weeks, offering detailed insights by geography and industry subsector. This allows for monitoring of economic events such as natural disasters or crises and helps track recovery efforts.
The survey samples about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each panel reports every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Results from BTOS are released biweekly and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas. These results provide real-time data that support local, state, and federal officials in policymaking as well as help businesses make informed economic decisions.
No news release accompanied this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
