The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a tool that tracks business conditions and forecasts across the United States. The survey, which now includes information for businesses with multiple locations, collects ongoing data on key economic indicators such as revenue, employment, hours worked, and inventories.
The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the country except for farms. It provides regular updates every two weeks with detailed information by region and industry subsector. This continuous reporting helps capture how events like natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
About 1.2 million businesses participate in the survey through a rotating panel system. Each of six panels, consisting of roughly 200,000 businesses each, is surveyed every 12 weeks over the course of a year. The Census Bureau estimates that it takes about nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be published biweekly and broken down by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. These results are intended to provide timely insights for policymakers at various levels of government as well as support business decision-making 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.”
There is no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet has been provided.
