The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections. The BTOS covers multiunit and multilocation businesses, offering data that complements other economic surveys by tracking factors such as revenue, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
The survey represents all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. It provides continuous and timely updates on key economic indicators every two weeks. According to the Census Bureau, this regular reporting with detailed geographic and industry information helps capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises, supporting efforts to monitor recovery.
About 1.2 million businesses are included in the BTOS sample, with biweekly data collection. Businesses are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates it takes about nine minutes for respondents to complete the survey.
BTOS data will be released every two weeks and made available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The results provide local, state, and federal officials with real-time information needed for policymaking and decision-making. Businesses can also use this information to guide their own economic choices.
There was no formal news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
