The U.S. Census Bureau has published new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures ongoing business conditions and projections. The survey includes information for businesses with multiple locations and is designed to complement other economic surveys by tracking key items such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. It provides timely data every two weeks, offering insight into the economy with geographic and industry-specific detail. This continuous reporting helps capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises and supports monitoring of recovery efforts.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. These panels are surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. According to the Census Bureau, it takes an average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released biweekly and made available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. The results provide essential real-time data for local, state, and federal officials to inform policy decisions. Businesses can also use this information when making economic choices.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; it was distributed as a tip sheet only.
