High-Frequency Update: 9-8-24

Sept. 8, 2024

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

U.S. TSA traveler throughput remained solid last week

third-quarter-2020-forecast-update-webinar

Arizona initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped modestly to 3,767 for the week ended August 31, down from 3,846 the prior week. That was up 11.5% over the year and up 4.0% from 2019.

U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 189,389 for the week ended August 31. That was down from 192,741 the prior week and down 1.0% over the year. Claims were up 5.5% from 2019.

The U.S. hotel occupancy rate fell to 63.9% for the week ended August 31, down from 66.1% the prior week. That was up 1.9% over the year but down 4.2% from 2019.

U.S. movie box office sales fell to $125.5 million for the week ended September 5, down from $127.1 million the prior week. That was down 7.4% over the year and down 11.8% from 2019. New movie releases were down 40.4% from 2019.

U.S. TSA traveler throughput fell to 17.2 million for the week ended August 31, down from 17.5 million the prior week. That was up 6.3% over the year and 5.9% from 2019.

Arizona new business applications rose to 720 for the week ended August 24, up from 610 the prior week. That was up 1.4% 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Data on seated diners at restaurants using the OpenTable app is no longer being updated to compare the current week to 2019 results.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: The Republic 100: Arizona’s largest employers and what to know about them (AR 9/3)
Automation / AI: AI and the labor market: will firms hire, fire, or retrain? (FRBNY 9/4)
COVID: How COVID-19 changed older adults’ work and lifestyle (Census 9/4)
Demographic / socioeconomic / Census: How do children and society benefit from public investments in children? (UI 9/4)
Economy: You aren’t likely to lose a job in the US but may find it harder to land one (AP 9/5)
Education / early childhood development: AZ Dept. of Education survey: teachers leaving due to low pay and student behavioral issues (AZPM 9/3)
Energy / environment / infrastructure: Hedge funds and foreign farms get water, rural Arizonans get empty wells (AZPM 9/4)
Housing / real estate: Why are multifamily property prices falling? (FRBKC 9/2)
Prices/inflation: When is shelter services inflation coming down? (FRBSF 9/3)
Wages/income/wealth: Introducing a credit bureau-based measure of U.S. household debt service (FRB)
Workforce/employment/labor market: How immigration remade the U.S. labor force (WSJ 9/4)

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.