High-Frequency Update: 4-21-24

April 21, 2024

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

U.S. hotel occupancy rate bounced up last week but remained below pre-pandemic levels

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Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up for the week ended April 13 to 4,330. That was up from 4,273 the week earlier and up 3.1% over the year. Claims were down 26.0% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 208,509 for the week ended April 13, down from 215,265 the prior week. That was down 3.8% over the year but up 6.2% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate rose to 65.8% for the week ended April 13, up 2.5% over the year and up from 64.1% the prior week. The occupancy rate was down 5.9% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales plummeted to $99.4 million for the week ended April 18, down from $112.9 million the prior week. That was down 47.3% over the year and down 41.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 38.6% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput ticked down to 17.2 million for the week ended April 13, down from 17.4 million the prior week. That was up 5.6% over the year and up 5.5% from 2019.

Arizona new business applications fell to 690 for the week ended April 13, down from 740 the prior week. That was down 12.7% over the year.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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.

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.