The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections across the United States. The BTOS, which now includes data for businesses with multiple locations, aims to complement existing economic surveys by collecting information on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
According to the Census Bureau, the BTOS covers all employer businesses in the country except farms. The survey provides continuous and timely updates on key economic indicators every two weeks. This regular reporting allows for detailed geographic and sector analysis and helps capture how events such as natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses. It also supports efforts to monitor recovery from such events.
The survey’s sample consists of about 1.2 million businesses divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each. Each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year-long period. On average, it takes respondents about nine minutes to complete the survey.
BTOS data will be made available biweekly by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country. Officials at local, state, and federal levels use this real-time data to inform policy decisions, while businesses can rely on it for making their own economic choices.
There was no formal news release issued with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
