The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections in the United States. The BTOS includes information from businesses with multiple units or locations and collects data on topics such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
The survey covers all employer businesses in the country except for farms. It aims to provide ongoing, timely insights into key economic measures every two weeks. By offering detailed geographic and subsector data, BTOS helps capture 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 that participate in biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels, each with around 200,000 cases. Each panel is asked to respond every 12 weeks over a one-year period. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average of nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
Survey results are published every two weeks and are available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. The data support local, state, and federal officials by providing real-time information that aids in policy and decision-making processes. Businesses also use this information when making their own economic decisions.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; it is provided as a tip sheet only.
