High-Frequency Update: 1-18-26

Jan. 18, 2026

By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up last week

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Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 2,639 for the week ended January 20, up from 1,957 the prior week. That was down 26.4% over the year and down 44.0% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 330,684 for the week ended January 10, up from 298,700 the prior week. That was down 6.2% over the year and down 3.8% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate ticked down to 48.1% for the week ended January 10, down from 50.5% the prior week. That was down 2.2% over the year and down 10.1% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales dropped to $128.1 million for the week ended January 15, down from $179.2 million the prior week. That was up 20.4% over the year but down 26.5% from 2019. New movie releases were down 41.1% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 15.5 million for the week ended January 10, down from 18.3 million the prior week. That was up 7.1% over the year and up 10.1% from 2019.

Weekly data on Arizona new business applications continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. Weekly data for November ranged from a high of 1,660 to a low of 520 (during the holiday week). Overall, new business applications remain strong.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.

As of October 15, 2022, Google stopped updating mobility data.

Key News Articles and Research (subscription may be required)

Curated by Valorie Rice, Senior Business Information Specialist

Automation / AI: Proactively developing and assisting the workforce in the age of AI (Upjohn)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Arizona ranks in top 10 on U-Haul’s migration growth index (PBJ 1/5)
Economy: Which entrepreneurs boost productivity? (FRBNY 1/5)
Education / early childhood development: The market value of non-degree credentials (Brookings 12/31)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Feds demand compromise on Colorado River while states flounder amid water shortage (Stateline 12/25)
Housing / real estate: Trump moves to ban big investors from buying single-family homes (WSJ 1/7)
Commercial real estate: Phoenix ranks second in US for new self-storage construction with 2 million square feet added (PBJ 1/6)
Mexico/trade: Higher tariffs might have created headwinds to employment growth in 2025 (FRBKC 12/12)
Prices/inflation: Prices would be lower if not for Trump’s tariffs, says new study (Forbes 11/26)
Public finance: The future of tax policy: a public finance framework for the age of AI (Brookings 1/8)
Wages/income/wealth: Has pay kept up with inflation? (Brookings 1/8)
Workforce/employment/labor market: The effects of high-skilled immigration (NBER Reporter)

Weekly Indicators

Use your cursor as a tooltip and click on charts to view values. Click on the names of indicators listed at the bottom any chart to switch them on/off to view fewer at one time and make comparisons. Icons allow you to download and share.

Note: The official initial claims for unemployment insurance numbers for the U.S. are released every Thursday morning covering the week ending on the previous Saturday.

The U.S. Census Bureau continues to produce weekly estimates; however, the weekly estimate files are published as part of the Monthly Business Formation Statistics (BFS) Release.One key dataset with these estimates is High-Propensity Business Applications, a subset of total weekly business applications in Arizona that measures the number of applications with a high-propensity of turning into a business with a payroll, based on various factors. These data reflect weekly applications for Employer Identification Numbers (EINs) in Arizona which are likely to result in employment and wages. These include applications: (a) from a corporate entity, (b) that indicate they are hiring employees, purchasing a business or changing organizational type, (c) that provide a first wages-paid date (planned wages); or (d) that have a NAICS industry code in manufacturing (31-33), retail stores (44), health care (62), or restaurants/food service (72). Applications for EINs occur before the jobs and wages are added, so this is a leading indicator. Read more about the Business Application dataset from the U.S. Census Bureau.