High-Frequency Update: 7-28-24

July 28, 2024

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

U.S. TSA traveler throughput was solid last week

third-quarter-2020-forecast-update-webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 4,246 for the week ended July 20, down from 5,198 the prior week. That was down 1.4% over the year and down 6.7% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 225,090 for the week ended July 20. That was down from 280,592 the prior week but up 5.4% over the year and up 14.6% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate spiked to 73.5% for the week ended July 20, up from 69.2% the prior week. That was up 0.8% over the year but down 5.6% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales rose to $229.5 million for the week ended July 25, up from $188.2 million the prior week. That was down 53.4% over the year and down 41.3% from 2019. New movie releases were down 47.8% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell modestly over the week for the week ended July 20, reaching 19.2 million. That was down from 19.3 million the prior week but up 4.2% over the year and up 5.6% from 2019.

Arizona new business applications were steady at 640 over the week for the week ended July 20. Applications were down 13.5% 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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, Senior Business Information Specialist

Arizona and general topics: U.S. automakers had a punishing week – with a silver lining for shoppers (NPR 7/26)

Automation / AI: States strike out of their own on AI, privacy regulation (Stateline 7/22)

Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: What gives poor kids a shot at better lives? Economists find an unexpected answer (WSJ 7/25)

Economy: Economic growth quickens, rising at 2.8% rate in second quarter (WSJ 7/25)

Education / early childhood development: The educational and labor market impacts of Maryland’s grow-your-own teacher recruitment program (Urban Inst. 7/12)

Energy / environment / infrastructure: Lake Powell reaches highest level in more than 3 years (ADS 7/22)

Housing / real estate: Homebuilder pessimism rises with higher interest rates, more inventory competition (PBJ 7/17)

Prices/inflation: The speed of firm response to inflation (NBER)

Wages/income/wealth: Sam Altman-backed group completes largest US study on basic income (Bloomberg 7/22)

Workforce/employment/labor market: What explains the Great Resignation? (FRBP)

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.