The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a tool designed to track business conditions and forecasts on an ongoing basis. The BTOS now includes data for businesses with multiple locations.
The survey covers all employer businesses in the United States, except for farms. It aims to provide up-to-date economic information every two weeks, offering detailed geographic and sector breakdowns. This frequent reporting helps capture the effects of significant events, such as natural disasters or economic downturns, and supports efforts to monitor recovery.
Each BTOS sample cycle involves about 1.2 million businesses, divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. Participants are asked to report every 12 weeks over the course of a year. According to Census Bureau estimates, respondents spend an average of nine minutes completing the survey.
BTOS results are published biweekly and can be filtered by sector, state, and the largest metropolitan areas in the country. The data is intended to support decision-making at various government levels and assist businesses in planning.
According to the Census Bureau: “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.”
There is no separate news release linked with this announcement; only a tip sheet was issued.
