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 covers multiunit and multilocation businesses, providing information that complements other economic surveys by collecting data on revenues, employees, hours, and inventories.
According to the Census Bureau, BTOS data represents all employer businesses in the United States except for farms. The survey offers ongoing insight into the economy by delivering key economic measures every two weeks. By including geographic and subsector details, BTOS helps monitor how events such as natural disasters or economic crises affect businesses and supports recovery tracking efforts.
The BTOS sample includes about 1.2 million businesses, with biweekly data collection. These are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each; each panel is surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. The agency notes that it takes respondents about nine minutes to complete the survey.
Data from BTOS will be published every two weeks and made available by sector, state, and for the 25 largest metropolitan statistical areas. The results provide timely information for officials at all levels of government to support policy decisions and help businesses make informed economic choices.
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