April Employment Up 0.9 Percent From Last Year; Unemployment Rate At 6.5 Percent
May 17, 2019
No. 19-13
JUNEAU, Alaska-April employment was up an estimated 0.9 percent, or 2,800 jobs, from April 2018.
Construction added the largest number of jobs (1,800), followed by health care and oil and gas, which both added 500 jobs. Manufacturing - which is mostly seafood processing in Alaska - had the biggest over-the-year decline at 700 jobs. Financial activities fell by 300 and the information sector by 200.
Alaska had 200 fewer federal jobs than last April. Local government grew by 200 jobs and state government by 100.
Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 6.5 percent, and the comparable national rate fell to 3.6 percent.
Not-seasonally adjusted rates fell in nearly every area of the state. Rates increased slightly in Aleutians East Borough and Aleutians West Census Area, although they remained among the state’s lowest due to winter fishing. The state’s largest decline was in Bristol Bay Borough, where the rate fell from 14.9 percent in March to 7.7 percent in April as the area’s fishing activity picked up.
Kusilvak, a rural area with high unemployment year-round, had the highest rate at 20.4 percent. Rates in the state’s urban centers - including Anchorage (5.1 percent), Fairbanks (5.8 percent) and Juneau (4.6 percent) - were all below the state average, and so were rates in Sitka (4.2 percent) and Kodiak (5.1 percent).
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