As part of BRAC’s business recovery priorities, we are producing and distributing a weekly economic indicator dashboard to examine and assess the impact of COVID-19 on the regional economy. The indicator dashboard takes into account a number of data points to illustrate the economy’s current state, and to keep businesses informed until it begins to steady and as it rebounds. Dashboards will be archived on brac.org/recovery.
Key takeaways from this week’s dashboard include:
- While the number of weekly new initial unemployment claims for the Capital Region is down over the week, the number is still approximately 100 times higher than the typical week;
- Although commercial/industrial vehicle fuel sales continue to be down minimally over the year, consumer vehicle fuel sales are down significantly (37%);
- Hotels continue to struggle, with revenues for the week of April 5 – 11 down 77%, and occupancy down 38% for the same timeframe;
- The number of COVID-19 cases in the Baton Rouge metro remains relatively low, the mortality rate of nearly 6% is quite high;
- Regarding mobility, retail and recreation remain static, while workplace mobility fell from -34% to -40% over-the-week. This may be due to higher unemployment or more positions working remotely.