Labor department: Unemployment rate edges down locally
Recession not hitting Juneau or Alaska as hard as down south
Unemployment dropped in Juneau in August as more residents found work.
The unemployment rate fell from 5.4 percent in July to 5.3 percent in August. Both were among the lowest in the state and well below the statewide average, which was 7.2 percent in August and 7.3 percent in July.
While the recession is not hitting either Juneau or Alaska as hard as it is hitting down south, Juneau's unemployment rate was even lower, 4.3 percent, in August 2008. Alaska's rate was 6 percent in 2008.
All the numbers are non-seasonally adjusted, in contrast with recent national unemployment estimates. They were released Friday by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development's Research and Analysis Section.
The recession may not be easing, but Department of Labor economist Dan Robinson said it seems to have stopped getting worse in Alaska.
"The state's unemployment rate has moved very little in the last four months, halting what had been a clear upward trend dating back to early 2007," he said.
In the past year, key Alaska industries such as oil and gas and seafood processing have held steady, while health care and government have increased. There are currently 800 more jobs in the state than there were a year ago, counter to trends elsewhere.
Unemployment rates in most of Southeast were lower than the state as a whole in August, 5.4 percent in Ketchikan Gateway and Sitka Boroughs, 5.2 percent in Haines Borough and 6.8 percent in the Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area.
Unemployment rates were higher than the state average on Prince of Wales Island, at 13.4 percent, and in the Wrangell-Petersburg census area, at 7.7 percent.
In Juneau, the number of unemployed during August fell to 1,002, from July's 1,023. That remained above the 812 residents unemployed in August 2008.
• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at523-2250 or patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.