High-Frequency Update: 3-8-26

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,177 for the week ended February 28, down from 2,386 the prior week. That was down 30.6% over the year and down 33.5% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 213,090 for the week ended February 28, up from 194,270 the prior week. That was down 5.7% over the year and down 3.4% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate ticked up to 62.8% for the week ended February 28, up from 62.2% the prior week. That was unchanged over the year but down 3.8% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales rose to $141.9 million for the week ended March 5, up from $100.7 million the prior week. That was up 90.6% over the year but down 6.3% from 2019. New movie releases were down 27.9% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 16.2 million for the week ended February 28, down from 17.9 million the prior week. That was down 1.5% over the year but up 5.9% 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Job growth in counties targeted by the CHIPS and Science Act (NBER Digest)
Automation / AI:Top AI economist who found ‘significant and disproportionate impact’ on entry-level jobs finds link between robots and minimum wage hikes (Fortune 3/4)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Denver cut street homelessness nearly in half (Governing 3/3)
Economy: Jobs are falling. Spending is, too. That’s a problem (CNN 3/6)
Education / early childhood development: How did school-level expenditures change in the wake of the pandemic? (Urban Inst 3/4)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: The local implications of data centers for rural communities in the US (Brookings 3/2)
Housing / real estate: Three principles of a national housing affordability strategy (Urban Inst 2/26)
Mexico/trade: The state economies most vulnerable to shifting tariffs (Governing 3/5)
Prices/inflation: The Strait of Hormuz: How Iran conflict affects oil tankers – and prices (CSM 3/3)
Public finance: Arizona estimates it will cost $65 million to implement Medicaid work requirements (KJZZ 3/2)
Wages/income/wealth: Are rising employee health insurance costs dampening wage growth? (FRBNY 3/4)
Workforce/employment/labor market: The US lost a surprising 92,000 jobs last month as the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% (AP 3/6)