High-Frequency Update: 2-1-26

Feb. 1, 2026

By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked down last week

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,369 for the week ended January 24, down from 2,802 the prior week. That was down 22.5% over the year and down 35.6% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 231,181 for the week ended January 24, down from 272,436 the prior week. That was up 1.3% over the year but down 7.7% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 53.9% for the week ended January 24, down from 56.1% the prior week. That was down 0.7% over the year and down 7.1% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales plunged to $76.5 million for the week ended January 29, down from $125.0 million the prior week. That was down 12.8% over the year and down 44.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 23.7% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 14.6 million for the week ended January 24, down from 15.2 million the prior week. That was up 2.7% over the year and up 8.2% 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 December ranged from a high of 1,290 to a low of 680. 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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

Arizona and general topics: GCU, TSMC offer free training and a shot at a semiconductor job (AR 1/28)
Automation / AI: AI and older workers (Urban Inst 1/13)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Decreases in net international migration slowed population growth across the country (Census Bureau 1/27)
Federal statistics: Data under pressure: what’s breaking (and what still works) in economic intelligence (The Ribbon Cut podcast 1/26)
Economy: Who is Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh? (AP 1/30)
Education / early childhood development: Educational attainment and wage growth in New England: evidence from four decades of administrative wage records (FRBB)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Colorado River water cuts would be ‘devastating’ to Central Arizona Project, leaders say (KJZZ 1/30)
Housing / real estate: Will regulating large institutional investors actually make housing more affordable? (Urban Inst 1/26)
Mexico/trade: Americans are the ones paying for tariffs, study finds (WSJ 1/19)
Public finance: Arizona among states with lowest personal income tax rates (AZ Big Media 1/30)
Wages/income/wealth: These are the states where incomes grew the most, least in recent decades (Stateline 1/27)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Arizona job market stable in 2025, despite layoffs like Amazon’s (AR 1/29)

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.