High-Frequency Update: 1-19-25
Arizona new business applications were uneven in December
Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up to 3,584 for the week ended January 11, up from 2,398 the week before. Claims were down 12.4% over the year and down 23.9% from 2019.
U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance also bounced up for the week ended January 11, to 351,885. That was up from 306,657 the prior week. U.S. claims were up 20.8% over the year and up 2.4% from 2019.
The U.S. hotel occupancy rate rose modestly to 49.2% for the week ended January 11, up from 48.3% the prior week. That was down 7.7% over the year and down 8.0% from 2019.
U.S. movie box office sales dropped to $105.8 million for the week ended January 16, down from $139.8 million the prior week. Sales were down 24.1% over the year and down 39.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 42.1% from 2019.
U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 14.5 million for the week ended January 11, down from 17.8 million the prior week. That was down 2.1% over the year but up 2.8% from 2019.
Weekly data Arizona new business applications will continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In December, new business applications ranged from 490 to 720. Over-the-year growth was mixed, with some weeks significantly higher than last year and some lower.
Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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
Arizona and general topics: Report: Arizona ranks among worst states for retirees (PBJ 1/15)
Automation / AI: How well does AI conduct research? Meet the researcher trying to find out (UA News 1/8)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: U.S. deaths expected to outpace births within a decade (WSJ 1/14)
Economy: How much did TCJA raise investment? (Brookings 1/13)
Education / early childhood development: About a quarter of U.S. teens have used ChatGPT for schoolwork – double the share in 2023 (Pew 1/15)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Arizona’s ‘Ag to Urban’ Initiative tackling water shortages and sustainable growth (AZPM 1/16)
Housing / real estate: Mortgage rates have climbed above 7%. Here’s how we got here and what it means (NPR 1/16)
Mexico/trade: How would Trump’s tariffs affect Arizona’s economy? Expect ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ (AR 1/17)
Prices/inflation: How is climate change impacting home insurance markets? (Brookings 1/14)
Public finance: How do JCT and CBO differ in modeling expiring TCJA tax provisions? (Brookings 1/14)
Wages/income/wealth: Minimum wages are increasing in nearly half the states this year (Stateline 1/10)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Are initial jobless claims a useful gauge of labor market conditions? (FRBSL 1/14)