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High-Frequency Update: 3-1-26

March 1, 2026
By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

U.S. TSA traveler throughput spiked last week

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,201 for the week ended February 21, down from 2,501 the prior week. That was down 21.5% over the year and down 24.2% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance also fell for the week ended February 21, with claims at 193,107, compared to 209,830 the prior week. That was down 12.6% over the year and down 4.9% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate bounced up to 62.2% for the week ended February 21, up from 61.5% the prior week. That was up 3.2% over the year but down 3.9% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales fell to $100.1 million for the week ended February 26, down from $167.1 million the prior week. That was down 1.0% over the year and down 39.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 17.2% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose to 17.9 million for the week ended February 21, up from 15.7 million the prior week. That was up 7.4% over the year and up 16.7% 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 January ranged from a high of 920 to a low of 200 during the holiday week. Overall, new business applications remain strong, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Arizona’s GOP lawmakers want Census that counts only U.S. citizens (ADS 2/25)
Automation / AI: Firm growth from the artificial intelligence boom (FRBC)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: State-level impacts of key Medicaid provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (RAND 2/26)
Federal statistics: Acting BLS Commissioner rejects speculation about falsified U.S. data (WSJ 2/23)
Economy: Consumer confidence improved in February (WSJ 2/24)
Education / early childhood development: The evolution of U.S. educational mobility over the 20th Century and the role of public education (FRBA 1/12)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Colorado River plan could wipe Arizona from the map, officials say (AR 2/23)
Housing / real estate: Measuring the impact of property insurance premiums on the mortgage market (FRBC)
Mexico/trade: Tariffs paid by midsize US companies tripled last year, a JPMorganChase Institute study shows (AP 2/19)
Public finance: Federal cuts hit state budgets hard as support for Medicaid, food stamps shrinks (Cronkite 2/24)
Wages/income/wealth: Too costly to work? The childcare burden on household earnings (FRBA 11/18)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Demographic changes and unemployment rate (FRBA 11/13) 

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.