From November 4, 2024, questions on working from home (WFH) will be added to the BTOS for cycle 2 (11/4/2024-1/26/2025). Remote working has become essential during the pandemic and remains a key element in many workplaces. Yet existing measures reveal significant data gaps that make it difficult to understand their significance, particularly from a business perspective. To address this issue, eleven questions on WFH were developed for the BTOS, covering the share and frequency of WFH, challenges, management policies and business impact. FMH data will be released in the spring.
BTOS data is representative of all businesses with employees in the U.S. economy, excluding farms. BTOS provides insight into the state of the economy by providing ongoing, current data on key economic metrics every two weeks. By providing continuous data with geographic and sub-sector detail, BTOS captures the impact of events such as natural disasters and economic crises, and helps monitor recovery efforts.
The BTOS sample includes approximately 1.2 million companies with biweekly data collection. The selected companies are divided into six panels (around 200,000 cases per panel) which will have to produce a report every 12 weeks for a year. The Census Bureau estimates that it takes the average respondent about nine minutes to complete the survey, including time to review the instructions and responses.
Data will be published every two weeks and available by industry, state and the 25 most populous metropolitan statistical areas. Survey results provide local, state and federal officials with critical, real-time data to aid policy development and decision-making. Additionally, this information helps businesses make economic decisions.
No press release associated with this announcement. Tip sheet only.
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