High-Frequency Update: 3-2-25

March 2, 2025

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

U.S. TSA traveler throughput bounced up last week

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked down to 2,740 for the week ended February 22, down from 2,884 the prior week. That was down 10.8% over the year and down 5.7% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 220,541 for the week ended February 22, down from 223,538 the prior week. That was up 12.7% over the year and up 8.6% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate rose modestly to 60.3% for the week ended February 22, up from 60.0% the prior week. That was down 2.7% over the year and down 6.8% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales dropped to $101.1 million for the week ended February 27, down from $207.7 million the prior week. That was up 22.7% over the year but down 38.8% from 2019. New movie releases were down 33.3% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput bounced up to 16.7 million for the week ended February 22, up from 15.6 million the prior week. That was up 0.4% over the year and up 8.7% from 2019.

Weekly data Arizona new business applications will continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In January, weekly new business applications ranged from 1,030 to 110, with the low weekly total likely reflecting the impact of the New Year's Day holiday. Overall, new business applications remain elevated compared to levels before the pandemic.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Yuma agriculture generates $4.4B in state economic activity, U of A study finds (UA News 2/10)
Automation / AI: The impact of generative AI on work productivity (FRBSL 2/27)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Unauthorized immigration flows before and after COVID-19 (FRBSL 2/21)
Economy: The FDIC’s goal is to prevent another banking crisis. It’s now also a Trump target (NPR 2/27)
Education / early childhood development: The real education revolution is happening in the states (Governing op-ed 2/27)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Already-lagging broadband program faces more uncertainty under Trump (Stateline 2/25)
Housing / real estate: Looking for a new home? Builders offering valuable incentives to entice homebuyers (AP 2/14)
Mexico/trade: Tariffs – everything you need to know but were afraid to ask (EPI 2/10)
Prices/inflation: Supply and demand drivers of global inflation trends (FRBNY 2/27)
Public finance: Tracking federal expenditures in real time (Hamilton Project 2/25)
Wages/income/wealth: Monetary policy and the distribution of income: evidence from U.S. metropolitan areas (FRBB)
Workforce/employment/labor market: What do mass federal layoffs mean for the labor market? (WSJ 2/23)

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.