High-Frequency Update: 11-24-24

Nov. 24, 2024

By George W. Hammond, EBRC director and Eller research professor

Arizona and U.S. initial claims ticked down last week

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Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,636 for the week ended November 16, down from 3,158 the prior week. That was down 32.4% over the year and down 28.8% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance also fell for the week ended November 16, down 11.6% over the year to 213,035. That was also down from 230,785 the prior week and down 6.5% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate ticked up to 63.3% for the week ended November 16, up from 62.6% the prior week. That was up 1.4% over the year but down 1.4% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales fell modestly to $91.2 million for the week ended November 21, down from $96.6 million the prior week. That was down 55.1% over the year and down 38.3% from 2019. New movie releases were down 42.5% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose modestly to 16.7 million for the week ended November 16, up from 16.4 million the prior week. That was down 2.2% over the year but up 6.5% from 2019.

Weekly data Arizona new business applications will continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In October, Arizona new business applications fell over the year for four consecutive weeks (weeks ended October 5, 12, 19, and 26). Applications were up over the year for the week ended November 2, at 700.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: BEA stopped producing county employment data by industry to everyone’s detriment (CREC 11/20)
Automation / AI: Artificial intelligence impacts on copyright law (RAND 11/20)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Why do WFH workers move? (FRBSL 11/21)
Economy: The link between falling population and productivity (FRBSL 11/19)
Education / early childhood development: U.S. women are outpacing men in college completion, including in every major racial and ethnic group (Pew 11/18)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: States spend billions on transportation projects. Are they meeting their goals? (Governing 11/19)
Housing / real estate: Hurricane Helene knocked a massive hole in Georgia’s timber industry (NPR 11/14)
Commercial real estate: Here’s how much empty office space is costing Phoenix (PBJ 11/21)
Mexico/trade: American companies are stocking up to get ahead of Trump’s China tariffs (WSJ 11/20)
Prices/inflation: How much has the cooling economy reduced inflation? (FRBSF 11/18)
Wages/income/wealth: Labor, Income, Finances, and Expectations (LIFE) Survey (FEBP)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Employment bounced back faster for private industry than for state and local governments (Census 11/20)

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.

Note: See (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html) for further definitions. Regular Gasoline has an antiknock index (average of the research octane rating and the motor octane number) greater than or equal to 85 and less than 88. Octane requirements may vary by altitude.

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.