The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data products from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which tracks business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis. The BTOS covers multiunit and multilocation businesses, collecting data that complements information found in other economic surveys, such as revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS data represents all employer businesses in the United States except farms. The survey provides continuous and timely economic data every two weeks, offering insights into various key measures of the economy. With detailed geographic and subsector information, BTOS helps capture the effects of events like natural disasters or economic crises and supports monitoring recovery efforts.
The survey sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, with biweekly data collection. These businesses are divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 cases each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks for a year. The Census Bureau estimates that respondents spend around nine minutes completing the survey.
Data from BTOS will be published biweekly and will be available by sector, state, and for the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. The results provide local, state, and federal officials with real-time data to support policymaking decisions. Businesses can also use this information to guide their own economic choices.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; it was issued as a tip sheet only.
