BRAC produces an economic indicator dashboard as part of our business recovery priorities. The dashboard examines and assesses the impact of COVID-19 on the regional economy, taking into account a number of data points to illustrate the economy’s current state, and to keep businesses informed as it begins to steady and rebound. Past dashboards are archived on brac.org/recovery.
Key findings from this week’s dashboard include:
- Weekly unemployment claims fell for the seventh consecutive week – a 30% drop in total claims over that time;
- Consumer spending dipped considerably in the last week of August, but that doesn’t account for expected higher spending due to the influx of evacuees from Southwest Louisiana;
- Retail fuel sales continue to trend higher than a similar week last year at both the state and regional level;
- Hotel occupancy spiked in the week ending September 5th to 92% due to evacuees staying in the region as recovery efforts continue;
- Mobility was mostly static, although park attendance was up in several parishes;
- CATS continues to have about 50% of the weekly ridership that they had last year.