High-Frequency Update: 4-5-26

April 5, 2026

By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell last week

Third quarter 2020 forecast update webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 2,466 for the week ended March 28, down from 2,526 the prior week. That was down 24.3% over the year and down 34.1% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 184,845 for the week ended March 28, down from 186,777 the prior week. That was down 7.6% over the year but up 0.6% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 66.8% for the week ended March 28, down from 67.7% the prior week. That was up 2.6% over the year but down 3.9% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales ticked up to $194.7 million for the week ended April 2, up from $193.2 million the prior week. That was up 90.2% over the year and up 5.7% from 2019. New movie releases were down 52.8% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 18.0 million for the week ended March 28, down from 18.3 million the prior week. That was up 1.5% over the year and up 8.3% 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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

Automation / AI: How AI may reshape career pathways to better jobs (Brookings 4/2)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: These three states could lose the most Medicaid enrollees (Governing 3/31)
Economy: The impact of immigrants on the US economy (Brookings 3/30)
Education / early childhood development: Employment implications of child-care access in New England, pre- and post-COVID-19 (FRBB)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Map: Rising oil prices could hurt residents of these states the most (Governing 3/30)
Housing / real estate: Making housing affordable: Q&A with Jason Ward (RAND 3/25)
Mexico/trade: How changes in migration to the U.S. affect Mexico’s labor market (Upjohn 4/2)
Prices/inflation: How interest rate changes affect credit card spending (FRBB 3/25)
Wages/income/wealth: New Hires Quality Index reaches a new record high, and shows that college education continues to pay off (Upjohn 4/2)
Workforce/employment/labor market: The pace of hiring just fell to the lowest since 2011, outside of the pandemic (CNN 3/31)

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.