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 country. The survey includes data from multiunit and multilocation businesses, and it continues to collect information that complements other economic surveys by focusing on key indicators such as revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS data represent all employer businesses in the United States except farms. The survey is designed to provide continuous and timely information for key economic measures every two weeks. By collecting detailed geographic and subsector data, BTOS helps measure the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
The BTOS sample consists of about 1.2 million businesses with biweekly data collection. Selected companies are divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each; these panels are asked to report every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau estimates that respondents spend an average of nine minutes completing the survey.
Data from BTOS will be released every two weeks and will be available by sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. “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,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; it was issued as a tip sheet only.
