Business Trends and Outlook Survey

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.