Monthly Business Survey services industries' total turnover in current price and non-seasonally adjusted, UK.

Monthly Business Survey production industries' total turnover, domestic sales and exports in the UK. Figures are in current price and are non-seasonally adjusted.

Monthly comparison of response rates for the Monthly Business Survey (services) by turnover and questionnaire, UK.

Monthly response rates for the UK Monthly Business Survey (production) by turnover and questionnaire.

The Monthly Business Survey (MBS) collects turnover and employment information from UK businesses in production industries and Great Britain businesses in services industries. Monthly turnover results give an early indication of what is happening in the economy and contribute to a number of important economic measures, including the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the Index of Production (IoP) and the Index of Services (IoS). The GDP is a key economic measure used by the Bank of England and HM Treasury to monitor and forecast economic growth and to inform vital policy decisions. The IOP and the IOS show changes in production and service sector outputs, respectively, and are a key measure of these industries' contribution to the economy. Employment information is collected via the MBS on a quarterly basis to feed into other Office for National Statistics (ONS) publications such as the Labour Market Statistical Bulletin, Workforce Jobs and the Economic and Labour Market Review.

The survey provides businesses with a vital source of information for identifying trends in the market, as a benchmark for company performance and as a guide to market developments.

The MBS combines two previously separate ONS turnover/employment surveys: the Monthly Production Inquiry (available from the UK Data Archive under SN 6726) and the Monthly Inquiries into the Distribution and Services Sector (available under SN 6747).

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

From July 2014 the data available is limited to 12 variables for each month. Previously, months include 40-46 variables. The time series is incomplete and there is limited metadata available for this study. Users should view the Data Archive Data Dictionaries for data availability.

Latest edition information
For the fourth edition (July 2023), new Q40 and Q49 monthly data files for January 2021 to March 2022 have been added to the study.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Countries included in at least one wave: Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas (the) Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands (the) Central African Republic (the) Chad Chile Colombia Congo (the) Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (the) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Faroe Islands (the) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia (the) Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Korea (the Republic of) Kuwait Lao People's Democratic Republic (the) Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands (the) New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger (the) Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands (the) Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines (the) Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation (the) Rwanda Réunion Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania, the United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands (the) Uganda United Arab Emirates (the) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) United States of America (the) Uruguay Vanuatu Viet Nam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Zambia.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

As of May 2023, the business survey index (BSI) among *** leading companies in South Korea stood at **** points. Since *************, the BSI points have remained below 100 points, indicating the underperformance of South Korean companies during the period. In **********, the BSI index once dropped to **** points during the first wave of COVID-19 infections after which it started to recover. The coronavirus (COVID-19) adversely affected the South Korean economy, which, however, quickly recovered as early as 2021.

This table provides up-to-date information about the opinions held by Dutch entrepreneurs on their achievements, expectations and judgments regarding their business. This panel survey is aimed at gaining insight into the current situation, future development and the judgments of Dutch enterprises. As a result it is possible to detect turning points in optimism or pessimism at an early stage, providing an early indication of possible trend changes in the economic activities of the Dutch enterprises. Data are broken down by main business activities (SIC 2008) and size- classes. The questions submitted to the entrepreneurs at the beginning of a quarter concern output, turnover, prices, order books, stocks, investments, competitive position, economic climate, staff size and the obstacles they have encountered. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next three months, the entrepreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months.

The aggregation ‘all enterprises (no finance or energy)’ includes all available branches questioned in the Business Survey Netherlands. Because not every branch is questioned monthly, this aggregation will only have data available for the first month of each quarter. The aggregation ‘C industry, H-S services and 45+47’ includes all monthly questioned branches and serves as a subtotal of the monthly questionnaire.

Data available from: January 2015

Status of the figures: All figures are definitive.

Changes as of November 27th 2025: Figures of November 2025 have been added.

Changes as of September 4th 2025: Corrections have been made to previously supplied data for the manufacture of metals. For this reason figures for the topics ‘Assessment of finished products stocks’ and ‘Orders placed next three months’ have been adjusted for C Manufacturing and other activities which manufacturing is part of.

When will new figures be published? Figures of December 2025 are expected to be published the 29th of December 2025.

The Monthly Business Survey (MBS) for Construction and Allied Trades is a monthly survey of businesses within the construction industry in Great Britain. The survey collects data about the value of work undertaken by GB businesses on new housing, new infrastructure, other new construction projects and repair and maintenance during the month. Information about employment is also collected on calendar quarter months.

The information is used to monitor the performance of the industry and contributes to gross domestic product (GDP). GDP is an important economic indicator used by the Bank of England, HM Treasury to monitor and forecast economic growth and to inform vital policy decisions.

As the data are open for revision for 13mths after annual delivery we will only deliver data which are no longer subject to revision. For example in January 2023 we will be able to deliver final data for December 2021. Ad hoc deliveries could be made subject to interest if needed however these are likely to be revised at a later point in time

The purpose of this table is to provide current information on the opinions of Dutch producers about performance, expectations and assessment concerning their enterprises. The survey covers enterprises in commercial services, retail trade and manufacturing industry. The Business sentiment survey makes it possible to indicate turning points in sentiment at an early stage. In this way a change in the trend of economic activity of Dutch companies is available at a early stage. The questions put to the companies relate to production,sales, prices, orders, stocks, investment, competitiveness,economic climate, workforce and the factors limiting production. In answering the questions relating to developments in the past three months and expectations for the next tree months, the enterpreneurs are asked for a comparison with the preceding period of three months. This publication is created using co-financing by the European Commission.

Status of the figures: All data are definite.

Data available from Services: April 1992 - June 2023 Data available from Retail Trade: May 2008 - June 2023 Data available from Industry: February 1989 - June 2023

Changes as of 27 July 2023; This table has been discontinued. The reason for this is that the results of this table have been moved to other, new tables in which the results comply with the stricter confidentiality rules due to an adjusted industry classification.

When will new figures be published? Not applicable. This table is followed by Business survey Netherlands; to regions (active on August 15, 2023). See paragraph 3.

BS: Mfg: sa: EC: Expected Employment data was reported at 4.490 Balances in Sep 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of -0.380 Balances for Aug 2018. BS: Mfg: sa: EC: Expected Employment data is updated monthly, averaging -6.570 Balances from Jan 1987 (Median) to Sep 2018, with 381 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.510 Balances in Feb 2008 and a record low of -37.020 Balances in Apr 1993. BS: Mfg: sa: EC: Expected Employment data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bank of France. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.S013: Business Survey: Bank of France .

The Monthly Business Survey for Construction and Allied Trades (MBS) collects information about the value of work undertaken by Great British businesses on new housing, new infrastructure, other new construction projects, and repair and maintenance during the month. Information about employment is also collected quarterly. The information is used to monitor the performance of the industry and contributes to gross domestic product (GDP).

The purpose of the survey is to obtain information about the construction industry and allied trades (e.g. plumbers and electricians), and to provide a comprehensive review of economic activity. The information provided is essential as the construction industry and allied trades forms a large part of the country's industrial production and capital investment.

Businesses of all sizes are surveyed to ensure statistics are representative of the UK economy.

The study available from the UK Data Archive under SN 8807 includes monthly data for 2010-2019 and annual data files for all years.

Linking to other business studies
These data contain Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR) reference numbers. These are anonymous but unique reference numbers assigned to business organisations. Their inclusion allows researchers to combine different business survey sources together. Researchers may consider applying for other business data to assist their research.

Latest edition information
For the third edition (October 2023), annual data and documentation for 2021 have been added to the study.

Abstract

The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Geographic coverage

When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Analysis unit

The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Universe

The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.

Mode of data collection

Internet [int]

Research instrument

The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

The questionnaire was pretested by the target audience, as well as experts from the area of research interest. Additionally, steps were taken to translate the survey in order to reduce sensitivities to cultural response bias: - Respondents were given the option to respond to the survey in any of fifteen languages native to the countries in which it was conducted. - Translations were done only by native speakers, with two rounds of additional online checks in the context of the survey environment. - Translators were provided with context material for this survey (e.g., the Facebook for Business website) in order to understand the context of the survey. They were also instructed to take the English survey at least two times before starting with the translations. - Translations were discussed in a group in order to ensure a common understanding of questions and items. - The tone (formal vs. informal) of the survey was based on cultural conventions, e.g., Facebook usually uses an informal tone, while in cultures such as the Japanese this is very uncommon and thus a formal tone was used there.

Response rate

Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Sampling error estimates

Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

Greece Business Survey: Manufacturing: Months of Secured Production data was reported at 5.100 Month in Oct 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 4.400 Month for Sep 2018. Greece Business Survey: Manufacturing: Months of Secured Production data is updated monthly, averaging 4.600 Month from Jul 1998 (Median) to Oct 2018, with 244 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 16.000 Month in Nov 1999 and a record low of -1.000 Month in Oct 1998. Greece Business Survey: Manufacturing: Months of Secured Production data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bank of Greece. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Greece – Table GR.S006: Business Survey.

The English Business Survey, or EBS, is a new survey commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in 2011. It provides a monthly assessment of business perceptions of current, past and expected future economic conditions in each English region.

Luxembourg Business Survey: Construction: Assured Activity Duration data was reported at 7.668 Month in Nov 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 7.534 Month for Oct 2018. Luxembourg Business Survey: Construction: Assured Activity Duration data is updated monthly, averaging 4.600 Month from Dec 2002 (Median) to Nov 2018, with 192 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.800 Month in Jun 2018 and a record low of 3.300 Month in Aug 2010. Luxembourg Business Survey: Construction: Assured Activity Duration data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by The Portal of Statistics of Luxembourg. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Luxembourg – Table LU.S002: Business Survey: Construction.

Surveys

The Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN) of the European Commission conducts five monthly, harmonised surveys for the economies in the European Union (EU) and in the candidate countries. They are addressed to representatives of the industry (manufacturing), services, retail trade and construction sectors, as well as to consumers. A few additional questions are asked on a quarterly and biannual basis. These surveys allow comparisons among different countries’ business cycles and have become an indispensable tool for monitoring the evolution of the EU and the euro area economies, as well as monitoring developments in the candidate countries.

The Business and consumer survey (BCS) database comprises the following surveys:

Industry survey

- Monthly questions on production, order book levels, stocks of finished products, perceived economic uncertainty, selling prices and employment.

- Quarterly questions on factors limiting production, production capacity, development of (overall and export) order books and months of production assured by them, capacity utilisation, competitive position.

- Biannual questions on investment activity, as well as structure of and factors stimulating investment (annual).

Services survey

- Monthly questions on business situation, demand, perceived economic uncertainty, employment and selling prices.

- Quarterly questions on factors limiting business and capacity utilisation.

- Biannual questions on investment activity, as well as structure of and factors stimulating investment (annual).

Retail trade survey

- Monthly questions on business activity, stocks of goods, orders placed with suppliers, perceived economic uncertainty, employment, selling prices.

Construction survey

- Monthly questions on building activity and factors limiting it, order books, employment, perceived economic uncertainty, prices charged.

- Quarterly questions on operating time ensured by current backlog.

Consumer survey

- Monthly questions on financial situation, perceived economic uncertainty, general economic situation, price trends, unemployment, major purchases and savings.

- Quarterly questions on intention to buy a car, purchase or build a home, home improvements.

Indicators

Monthly Confidence Indicators (CIs) reflecting overall perceptions and expectations are calculated separately for all four business sectors covered by the survey programme, as well as consumers. The computation is done both at country and aggregate level (EU and euro area).

A monthly Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) is calculated based on a selection of questions from the industry, services, retail trade, construction and consumer surveys at country level and at aggregate level (EU and euro area) in order to track overall economic activity. The ESI has been calculated since 1985.

Since 2020, the set of monthly composite indicators also contains an Employment Expectations Indicator (EEI), which helps getting a timely indication of expected changes in dependent employment. The indicator is constructed as a weighted average of the employment expectations of managers in four surveyed business sectors (industry, services, retail trade and construction).

A monthly euro area Business Climate Indicator (BCI) is available for industry.

Detailed methodological information about the BCS surveys and indicators is provided in a user guide to the Joint Harmonised EU Programme of Business and Consumer Surveys: https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/db_indicators/surveys/documents/methodological_guidelines/bcs_user_guide.pdf

Note: Up until April 2023, the BCS surveys included a sixth survey for the financial services sector, which was only available at EU/euro area level. This survey has been discontinued.

This dataset comes from INSEE’s Macro-Economic Data Bank. The BDM is the main database of series and indices on all economic and social fields. It makes available all the information necessary for the economic diagnosis, and more generally for the analysis of fluctuations in economic activity, at global and sectoral levels, in a harmonised presentation, for a set of series from multiple sources. Business climate and economic turnaround: Indicators of business climate and cyclical reversal Households: Monthly household cyclical survey Industry: Activity and demand Investment Treasury Construction and real estate: Monthly survey in the building industry Quarterly survey in building crafts Quarterly survey in public works Quarterly survey in real estate development Trade: Bi-monthly wholesale survey Monthly Survey in Retail, Automotive Trade and Repair Services Monthly survey in services