The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks ongoing business conditions and future expectations across the country. The survey includes information for businesses with multiple locations.
BTOS aims to supplement existing economic surveys by gathering regular data on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories. The survey is designed to represent all employer businesses in the United States except farms.
The BTOS collects data every two weeks from about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Each selected business reports once every 12 weeks over a year-long period. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey takes an average of nine minutes.
Survey results are released biweekly and provide breakdowns by industry sector, state, and the 25 largest metropolitan areas. These timely insights help officials at all levels of government make policy decisions based on current economic trends. Businesses can also use this information to guide their own planning.
The BTOS helps capture how events such as natural disasters or economic crises affect different regions and sectors of the economy, as well as how recovery efforts progress over time.
There was no accompanying news release for this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
