The U.S. Census Bureau has released new data from the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), which measures business conditions and projections across the country. The BTOS covers all employer businesses in the United States, except for farms, and now includes data on multiunit or multilocation businesses.
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.”
The survey sample includes about 1.2 million businesses that are divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 each. These panels are surveyed every 12 weeks over a year. The Census Bureau notes that it takes respondents an average of nine minutes to complete 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. This information is intended to support local, state, and federal officials in policymaking as well as help businesses make informed economic decisions.
“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 Census Bureau.
There is no news release associated with this announcement; only a tip sheet was provided.
