High-Frequency Update: 9-29-24

Sept. 29, 2024

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

U.S. TSA traveler throughput remained strong last week

third-quarter-2020-forecast-update-webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance fell slightly to 3,591 for the week ended September 21, down from 3,682 the prior week. That was up 11.5% over the year but down 2.4% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance rose 3.0% over the year for the week ended September 21. Claims were down over the week to 180,878 from 186,835 the prior week. Claims were up 3.1% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate rose to 68.9% for the week ended September 21, up from 66.6% the prior week. That was up 0.6% over the year but down 3.4% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales fell to $106.9 million for the week ended September 26, down from $124.3 million the prior week. That was up 48.8% over the year but down 36.7% from 2019. New movie releases were down 49.2% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput rose to 17.1 million for the week ended September 21, up from 16.3 million the prior week. That was up 2.6% over the year and up 7.1% from 2019.

Weekly data Arizona new business applications will continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. We should have weekly data for September in early October. Stay tuned.

Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: ASU tuition surcharge, cuts in response to state budget reflect lower Arizona higher education spending (Cronkite 9/24)
Automation / AI: Robots: helpers or substitutes for workers? (FRBSL 9/25)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: Privacy protection and accuracy: what do we know? Do we know things?? Let’s find out! (NBER)
Economy: Climbing car sales, more repos: what’s driving our ‘wacky’ auto economy (AR 9/21)
Education / early childhood development: Key facts about public school teachers in the U.S. (Pew 9/24)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: “This aquifer is our Colorado River”: rural residents struggle when corporate farms drill deep for water (AZPM 9/20)
Housing / real estate: Hungry for affordable housing, communities turn to land trusts (Route-Fifty 9/24)
Prices/inflation: Here we go again: egg prices are spiking. Here’s why (CNN 9/25)
Public finance: The coming policy backwash from the COVID revenue wave (Governing 9/24)
Workforce/employment/labor market: Exploring the disconnect: digital credentials and employer demand (Brookings 9/20)

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.