High-Frequency Update: 5-17-26

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 2,912 for the week ended May 9, down from 3,050 the prior week. That was down 18.5% over the year and down 31.7% from 2019.

U.S. weekly initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 190,571 for the week ended May 9, up from 180,313 the prior week. That was down 6.4% over the year but up 1.2% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate dropped to 64.8% for the week ended May 9, down from 66.5% the prior week. That was up 0.3% over the year but down 5.1% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales fell to $216.2 million for the week ended May 14, down from $230.6 million the prior week. That was up 86.2% over the year but down 1.5% from 2019. New movie releases were down 56.5% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput declined to 16.9 million for the week ended May 9, down from 17.0 million the prior week. That was down 2.2% over the year but up 2.6% 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 April ranged from 820 to 920. Overall, new business applications have been trending up but remain below levels reached in 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: Americans see health care costs, deficit, inflation as big problems facing the nation (Pew 5/11)
Automation / AI: Will mounting supply chain strains hamstring the AI investment boom? (FRBNY 5/11)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Pinal County leads Arizona in growth, while some southern Arizona cities lag (AZPM 5/15)
Federal statistics: American farmers shun USDA surveys as trust in data erodes (TG 5/2)
Economy: Retail sales growth slowed in April from March as higher gas cost leaves less room for nonessentials (AP 5/14)
Education / early childhood development: Texas schools lose 76,000 students in historic decline (Governing 5/13)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: There’s a new plan for managing the Colorado River. Here’s what you should know (KJZZ 5/11)
Housing / real estate: Home prices have fallen, but not enough to solve Arizona’s affordability woes, report says (KJZZ 5/12)
Mexico/trade: Trade court rules against Trump’s new global tariffs (WSJ 5/8)
Prices/inflation: Producer prices shot up 6%, adding to pressure on companies to raise prices for customers (AP 5/13)
Public finance: How did the budget get balanced in the late 1990s? (Brookings 5/11)
Wages/income/wealth: Charted: The College Pay Gap in Every U.S. State
Workforce/employment/labor market: Drivers of wage and employment growth in recent years: a supply and demand decomposition (FRBSL 4//13)