than the overall population, and can therefore boost Texas’s workforce. Sack Lunching Although slow to recover from pre-pandemic levels, office occupancy is on the rise as more people return to traditional work schedules. But many of those workers are not returning to “lunching out” frequently during the work week. Circana, an analytics and technology company, found that lunchtime traffic at food establishments decreased from 2023 to 2024, while purchases of food at grocery stores increased. These data suggest that more office workers are lunching on food from home as a way to save money. This begs the question: Is a breakroom refrigerator stocked full of brown bag lunches a sign that the economy’s in a slump? Thinking Outside the Box Some economists believe cardboard box production is a strong indicator of the economy’s health. When cardboard box production is up, they say, so is the economy, because demand for boxes is often directly related to consumer spending. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis tracks the consumer price index by industry, including “Corrugated and Solid Fiber Box Manufacturing.” These data show that box manufacturing dipped in late 2020 (reflecting diminished spending during the pandemic), peaked in late 2022 and dipped again in early 2024. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the year-over-year percentage change in private industry wages and salaries peaked in the summer of 2022 and has been in decline since then. 27 DEALERS’ CHOICE
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