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High-Frequency Update: 6-16-24

June 16, 2024
By George W. Hammond, EBRC director and Eller research professor

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance spiked last week

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Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance rose modestly to 4,464 for the week ended June 8, up from 4,127 the prior week. That was up 4.3% over the year but down 4.4% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance spiked to 234,707 for the week ended June 8, up from 196,177 the prior week. That was down 6.4% over the year but up 6.6% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate rose to 69.1% for the week ended June 8. That was up from 62.0% the prior week but down 0.4% over the year and down 4.0% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales rebounded to $150.6 million for the week ended June 13. That was up from $100.5 million the prior week but down 36.7% over the year and down 37.7% from 2019. New movie releases were down 59.2% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput bounced up to 18.7 million for the week ended June 8. That was up 7.2% over the year and up 8.6% from 2019.

Arizona new business applications rebounded to 700 for the week ended June 8, up from 560 the prior week. That was down 10.3% 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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.

Key News Articles and Research (subscription may be required)

Curated by Valorie Rice, EBRC Senior Business Information Specialist

Arizona and general topics: Proposed AZ budget would cut funding for most state agencies (6/12)
Automation / AI: Automation and rent dissipation: implications for wages, inequality, and productivity 
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Phoenix one of leading nationwide relocation hotspots, study shows (6/10)
Economy: The Fed holds rates steady, sees only one rate cut in 2024 as inflation cools (6/12)
Education / early childhood development: *Be wary of what you read in the school voucher debate (6/13)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: A water supply used for Arizona’s suburban growth ‘is gone,’ one negotiator says (6/9)
Housing / real estate: How U.S. cities are using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to tackle housing affordability (6/11)
Prices/inflation: Americans really, really hate inflation – and that’s a big problem for the Fed (6/9)
Wages/income/wealth:  We should focus on rising wages, not just inflated prices (6/11)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Employment and labor supply responses to the Child Tax Credit expansion: theory and evidence
 

 

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.

Note: See (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_home_page.html) for further definitions. Regular Gasoline has an antiknock index (average of the research octane rating and the motor octane number) greater than or equal to 85 and less than 88. Octane requirements may vary by altitude.

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.