Webinar: Business Trends and Outlook Survey

  • Last Updated: November 08, 2024
  • Published: November 08, 2024

Register to attend the live training webinar, "Business Trends and Outlook Survey."

Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. (EST)

Recording and closed captioning are available. All webinars are free of charge.

  • Speakers: Jennifer Boettcher, Business Reference Librarian, Georgetown University 
  • Learning outcomes: This webinar will introduce you to the Business Trends and Outlook Survey, its history, structure, output options, and how to create customized data. Learn about a near “real-time” business data source from the U.S. Census Bureau that is better than online polling. Every two weeks, a new dataset is released from a sample base of 1.2 million businesses given 25 consistent questions. Respondents provide current sentiments and future perspectives that reflect operational changes and financial stress. Topics include changes in revenue, hours worked, employment, input/output prices, demand, inventory, delivery time, work from home, use of AI, and general performance, as well as the impact of interest rates, loss due to weather, and if they started or closed a business. With such a huge sample base, these data can be parsed by state, Puerto Rico, top metropolitan areas, sector, subsector, and business size. Moreover, last spring the Census Bureau took a deep dive into the specifics of AI use on top of the standard 25 questions. If you work with people who need new data for their research or decision-makers interested in supply chain, sustainability, and economic development, this is the webinar for you.

Registration confirmation information:

Upon registering, a confirmation email from [email protected] will be sent with instructions for joining the webinar. To ensure delivery of that email, configure your junk mail or spam filter(s) to permit messages from that address. GPO staff will also email your access information the day before the webinar. If you do not receive your login information, please contact us through askGPO.

Prior to the webinar:

For those participating via a desktop or laptop computer (preferred method), a WebEx plug-in must be installed (one-time only). Download instructions. Some features will not be available for users participating with a tablet or smartphone. Devices need to have a WebEx app installed from the device’s app store, which may take time. After installation, the app will ask for you to Allow or Deny permissions.