High-Frequency Update: 5-10-26

Today

By George W. Hammond, EBRC research professor

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked up last week

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Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 3,050 for the week ended May 2, down from 3,652 the prior week. That was down 20.7% over the year and down 34.2% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance ticked up to 180,968 for the week ended May 2, up from 180,669 the prior week. That was down 12.5% over the year and down 11.3% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate dropped to 66.5% for the week ended May 2, down from 67.7% the prior week. That was up 1.1% over the year but down 3.8% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales rose to $230.6 million for the week ended May 7, up from $200.9 million the prior week. That was up 21.2% over the year but down 10.5% from 2019. New movie releases were down 50.4% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 17.0 million for the week ended May 2, down from 17.3 million the prior week. That was down 1.6% over the year but up 4.5% 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 March ranged from 820 to 870. 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Another oil crisis is here. How will American drivers respond?
Automation / AI: The AI splurge is costing big tech its workforce (WSJ 4/27)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: These couples wanted to have children. Rising costs are stopping them. (NYT 4/26)
Federal statistics: What does successful innovation in headline economic statistics look like? (Brookings 5/5)
Economy: U.S. economy grew 2% from January-March, recovering from federal shutdown; Iran war clouds outlook (AP 4/30)
Education / early childhood development: Inflation is sucking the life out of teacher pay raises, report says (NPR 4/27)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Amazon web services locks down massive Buckeye warehouse (PBJ 4/28)
Housing / real estate: Natural disasters are rewriting home insurance costs. See how it impacts you (WSJ 4/29)
Commercial real estate: Sales downtown and elsewhere reflect community priorities (ADS 4/25)
Mexico/trade: Trump pursues new import taxes to replace the tariffs the Supreme Court rejected (AP 4/27)
Prices/inflation: How a weaker dollar is quietly making life more expensive (AP 5/3)
Public finance: AZ House approves GOP budget plan; showdown with Hobbs nears (ADS 5/3)
Wages/income/wealth: Phoenix metro ranks in top 3 nationally for wealth influx as billions flow in from California (PBJ 4/29)
Workforce/employment/labor market: These are the hiring hot spots where college grads are landing jobs (WSJ 5/3)

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.