The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a program designed to measure ongoing business conditions and projections across the country. The BTOS now includes information for businesses with multiple locations, broadening its scope.
According to the Census Bureau, the BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States except farms. The survey collects important economic indicators such as revenues, employee counts, hours worked, and inventories. Data are gathered every two weeks, offering a continuous view of business activity by sector, state, and among the 25 largest metropolitan areas.
The sample for this survey includes about 1.2 million businesses. These are divided into six groups of roughly 200,000 each; every group is surveyed once every 12 weeks over a year. On average, respondents spend nine minutes completing the survey.
By providing timely data with geographic and industry detail on a biweekly basis, BTOS helps track how events like natural disasters or economic downturns affect businesses and supports monitoring of recovery efforts. The results serve as a resource for officials at all levels of government as well as for private sector decision-makers.
“BTOS provides insight into the state of the economy by providing continuous, timely data for key economic measures every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and subsector detail, BTOS captures the impact of events like natural disasters and economic crises and assists in monitoring recovery efforts.”
“Survey results give local, state and federal officials essential, real-time data to aid in policymaking and decision-making. In addition, the information aids businesses in making economic decisions.”
No formal news release accompanied this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
