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Tool Updates · October 8, 2026 · 2 min read

Census releases October 8 Business Trends and Outlook Survey update

By Econ Data Tools Editorial Team

Published October 8, 2026 • Updated October 8, 2026

Reviewed by primary-source verification

The biweekly survey covers employer businesses excluding farms. This release notice describes the data product, not a measured economy-wide gain or decline.

The Census Bureau released new Business Trends and Outlook Survey data products on October 8, 2026. BTOS measures business conditions and projections on an ongoing basis, including items such as revenue, employees, hours and inventories. The bureau says the data represent U.S. employer businesses, excluding farms. The survey provides geographic and subsector detail, which can help users follow business conditions and recovery after disruptions. Its scope should not be confused with every household or every self-employed worker. BTOS releases data every two weeks. The bureau describes a sample of approximately 1.2 million businesses divided into six panels of roughly 200,000 cases each. Each selected business is asked to report every 12 weeks for a year. Biweekly publication does not mean the same business completes the survey every two weeks. Data are available by sector, state and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. Users comparing local results should keep the geography, sector and reporting period consistent. The October 8 announcement is a tip sheet about the release. It does not state a national percentage change in revenue, employment or inventories. This brief therefore reports the availability and scope of the update, not an unsupported claim that conditions improved or worsened. Survey projections describe respondents' expectations. They are not a guaranteed path for future output or a substitute for separate employment, inflation or GDP releases.

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