High-Frequency Update: 9-7-25
U.S. hotel occupancy falls for sixth straight week
Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance fell to 3,099 for the week ended August 30, down from 3,309 the prior week. That was down 17.7% over the year and down 14.4% from 2019.
U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance bounced up to 196,999 for the week ended August 30, up from 191,208 the prior week. That was up 3.3% over the year and up 9.7% from 2019.
The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell for the sixth consecutive week by declining to 63.4% for the week ended August 30. That was down from 65.4% the prior week. The occupancy rate was down 0.8% over the year and down 4.9% from 2019.
U.S. movie box office sales dropped to $91.9 million for the week ended September 4, down from $102.4 million the prior week. That was down 26.6% over the year and down 35.4% from 2019. New movie releases were down 41.2% from 2019.
U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 17.5 million for the week ended August 30, down from 17.7 million the prior week. That was up 1.8% over the year and up 7.8% from 2019.
Weekly data on Arizona new business applications continue to be published by the Census Bureau, but only on a monthly basis. In July, weekly new business applications ranged from 670 to 830. Overall, applications were up significantly over the year in July.
Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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
Automation / AI: Are businesses scaling back hiring due to AI? (FRBNY 9/4)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: How the midlife crisis was replaced by a decadelong rise in ‘young worker despair’ in the U.S. – and what it means for Gen Z (Fortune 9/1)
Economy: Spending growing at a snail’s pace (FRBR 8/19)
Education / early childhood development: Community colleges aim to shorten the path to skilled jobs (Governing 9/5)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: What is natural disaster clustering – and why does it matter for the economy? (FRBNY 9/2)
Housing / real estate: Starter homes are scarce, so Utah set a target to build more. Here’s how it’s going (NPR 9/2)
Mexico/trade: Etsy sellers are being hit hard by tariffs and the end of the de minimis rule (NPR 9/5)
Public finance: The Earned Income Tax Credit at 50: Past, present, and future (Brookings 9/3)
Wages/income/wealth: Can Arizona retirees stretch their Social Security pay long enough? Probably not (AR 8/29)
Workforce/employment/labor market: US hiring stalls with employers reluctant to expand in an economy grown increasingly erratic (AP 9/5)