The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which provides ongoing measurements of business conditions and projections across the United States. The survey includes data for businesses with multiple locations and complements information found in other economic surveys, such as those on revenues, employees, hours worked, and inventories.
BTOS covers all employer businesses in the country except farms. It offers regular updates every two weeks on key economic indicators at both geographic and subsector levels. This allows BTOS to track the effects of events like natural disasters or economic downturns and support monitoring of recovery efforts.
The survey draws from a sample of about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of approximately 200,000 each. Each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over the course of a year. According to the Census Bureau, completing the survey takes an average respondent about nine minutes.
Data from BTOS will be published biweekly and will be available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. The results are intended to provide local, state, and federal officials with real-time information for policymaking and decision-making. Businesses can also use this data to inform their own economic decisions.
“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 are expected to help officials at various government levels as well as private sector leaders make informed choices based on current business trends.
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