Census Wants to Keep Asking Businesses About the Future
Published Date: 3/31/2025
Notice
Summary
The Census Bureau is updating its Business Trends and Outlook Survey, which asks nearly 800,000 businesses every two weeks about how they're doing. This helps keep a close eye on the economy with fresh, detailed info—especially during tough times like emergencies. The update asks for public feedback and aims to keep the survey quick and easy, taking just 10 minutes per response.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 2 costs, 1 mixed.
Multi‑Unit Businesses Added Incrementally
The Census proposes an incremental expansion of BTOS scope to add multi‑unit businesses (those with more than one location), noting multi‑unit firms account for most employment, payroll, and revenue; the expansion will be staged to allow learning and adjustments.
Biweekly Business Survey Continues
The Census Bureau will continue the Business Trends and Outlook Survey (BTOS), a bi-weekly collection that targets all nonfarm employer businesses with receipts of $1,000 or more in the United States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The notice lists 795,000 respondents, an average response time of 10 minutes, total burden hours of 132,500, a current sample of about 1.2 million businesses split into six panels, and that businesses in each panel are asked to report once every 12 weeks for one year.
Survey Shortened to 16 Core Questions
The Census shortened BTOS core content from 26 questions to 16 core questions and states the core questions impose no more than 10 minutes of burden per response. The change is intended to keep the survey concise and adaptable.
AI Supplement May Add Extra Time
The Census requests approval to repeat an artificial intelligence (AI) supplemental module for BTOS; the prior year’s AI supplement added an additional 10 minutes of burden, and the new AI supplement’s final burden will be set after cognitive testing is completed.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this regulation affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this federal register document and every other regulation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Key Dates
Department and Agencies
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in