High-Frequency Update: 3-15-26
Arizona new business applications were steady in February
Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked up to 2,414 for the week ended March 7, up from 2,344 the prior week. That was down 32.8% over the year and down 29.1% from 2019.
U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 206,161 for the week ended March 7, down from 214,269 the prior week. That was down 3.7% over the year and down 1.5% from 2019.
The U.S. hotel occupancy rate ticked up to 63.0% for the week ended March 7, up from 62.8% the prior week. That was up 1.0% over the year but down 5.7% from 2019.
U.S. movie box office sales dropped to $125.1 million for the week ended March 12, down from $142.0 million the prior week. That was up 56.8% over the year but down 55.5% from 2019. New movie releases were down 41.0% from 2019.
U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose to 16.8 million for the week ended March 7, up from 16.2 million the prior week. That was up 2.1% over the year and up 6.5% 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 February ranged from 800 to 830. Overall, new business applications remain strong, compared to pre-pandemic levels, but have weakened compared to 2023.
Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Tucson tech moment: How technology is shaping up in Tucson (ITB 3/6)
Automation / AI: Labor market impacts of AI: a new measure and early evidence (Anthropic 3/5)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: The next redistricting battle might be who is counted in state legislative districts (NPR 3/9)
Federal statistics: National statistics are in crisis around the world – and the impacts will be severe (Nature 3/11)
Economy: Cracks emerged in a resilient US economy before war in Iran sent oil prices rocketing (AP 3/13)
Education / early childhood development: Is college becoming less affordable? An update (Brookings 3/9)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: State transportation funding could get even tougher as oil prices rise (Governing 3/13)
Housing / real estate: Once a beacon of cheap homes, Nevada has become a symbol of America’s struggle with high costs (AP 3/9)
Mexico/trade: Now what? The limits of tariff-driven economic statecraft after IEEPA (Brookings 3/5)
Prices/inflation: Arizona gas prices spike because of Iran conflict, California refinery issues (KJZZ 3/9)
Public finance: How to design a state Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit that works (Upjohn)
Wages/income/wealth: How increasing wages for low-paid workers supports financial stability and well-being (Urban Inst 3/11)
Workforce/employment/labor market: The month healthcare jobs stopped propping up the labor market (WSJ 3/6)