Alaska’s employment picture remains strong, especially compared to the rest of the nation, but Juneau is doing even better, according to the latest unemployment numbers released by the Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development.
Juneau’s October unemployment rate was 5.0 percent, up from September’s 4.5 percent in normal seasonal variation, but below the 5.5 percent from October of 2010.
Juneau was tied with the North Slope Borough, where oil jobs remained strong, for the state’s lowest unemployment rate.
Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in October was 7.4 percent, down from 7.5 percent in September. The nation’s unemployment rate was 9.0 percent, also down a tenth of a percent from September.
“Alaska’s unemployment rate has been below the nation’s for exactly three years now, an unusual relationship after decades of the state’s rate being one or two percentage points higher than the nation’s,” said Neal Fried, economist with the department’s Research and Analysis Section, which produces the numbers.
That’s follows decades of being consistently higher than the national rate.
The national unemployment rate is closing on Alaska’s a bit, with the national rate declining seven-tenths of a percentage point from October of last year, while Alaska was down half a percentage point during the same period.
Statewide, areas of job growth included health care, which added 1,700 jobs over the year, retail trade at 900, leisure and hospitality at 800, professional and business services at 600, and oil and gas at 300.
Areas of decline over the year were government, which lost 1,200 jobs, financial activities, which lost 400, manufacturing at 200 and construction at 100.
During the last year, Juneau has added several hundred new jobs, while the state as a whole had added 2,300.
During the month of October, however, both Juneau and the state saw the number of unemployed people rise a bit, which Fried called “typical as the job market continues its annual transition from summer to winter.”
That was most stark in Skagway, which during the summer tourist season has one of the lowest unemployment rates. It’s unemployment rate in October jumped from 5.0 percent in September to 21.7 percent, highest in the state, in October
Other Southeast rates included Sitka at 5.9 percent, Ketchikan at 6.6 percent, Haines at 7.9 percent, Yakutat at 8.0 percent, Petersburg at 8.3 percent, Wrangell at 9.9 percent, Prince of Wales-Hyder at 13.1 percent and Hoonah-Angoon at 13.8 percent.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 523-2250 or at patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com
Comments (7)
Add commentI would like to know what
I would like to know what steps are being taken to build a Sustainable Economy for our kids future here in SE Alaska. We need to build an economy here that lasts for them and not one that is constantly sagging between bubbles.
What steps are being taken so that our kids will have the skills, employers will be seeking in the listed job growth areas of: Health Care, leisure and hospitality, professional and business services?
I would certainly like to see more encouragement for our kids to get the training they will need for these areas of job growth, rather than the push I see from some members in this community to get our kids to take mining jobs.
Mining jobs are short lived and enrich the 1% crowd, they offer a short term fix for our economy but long term destructive consequences for the rest of us
Phouston...
...or is it 'Haily' or 'Trent' today?
"We need to build an economy here that lasts for them and not one that is constantly sagging between bubbles."
You do understand that nearly the entire economy of Juneau is based on oil, right? And oil is another form of 'mining'. When the oil bubble pops, and the pipeline runs dry, Juneau will dry up. There won't be all that much demand for those business service and healthcare jobs in Juneau.
Sure, there'll still be some hospitality/tourism jobs for about 4 months per year, but that doesn't sound like much of an economy. Besides, most of those jobs serve the 1% corporate cruise line ownership.
Your shrill and monotonous harping on any activities you deem to be beneath you comes across as arrogant and demeaning.
lordy lordy Latitude58, or
lordy lordy Latitude58, or is it Jimcollman or SEtroller today??
I must say. I read the comments here daily and have been taken back more than once by your arrogance and sense of self-importance.
I am also deeply concerned
I am also deeply concerned about this push in town to get our kids into mining jobs and agree100% with Phousten points.
I see, kalfjay
So there are hundreds of jobs in the Juneau area that pay wages well above the average income around here, and you're saying someone ELSE'S kids should be working them?
That's quite the elitist attitude you (and phouston) are demonstrating.
Not every kid is going to go become a radiologist or a (shudder) lawyer. You would have them driving tour buses instead. The mines are here for a good long while, like it or not. Get over it.
'Phouston' profile - Where is the reliance ?
I do beg your pardon for entering this stream, but it appears that Phouston has a little bit of a hold on everyone's life here. Is that truly the case? Is there a broader View? I'm a reporter in the UK and it would be better for the good residents of Juneau to broadcast a good press (to overseas press). Please be kind to each other and help each other out. If local businesses (Large companies) are willing to contribute to the views then let them speak. More local views are then able to air comfortably their conclusions. - Mark D. Drummond, Lancashire, England.
Juneau & Jobs
Juneau is one of those places that if you want a job, you can get a job. If you don't want to, you can survive without one. You might not get a job doing what you want to do, for the money you think you deserve, but jobs are out there. Too bad some people just float long enough to get back on unemployment. They make the majority look bad.