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Unemployment

03/12/10    9:59-am

Mike Mason

Every Borough and Census Area in Southwest Alaska, except one, recorded increases in the unemployment rate in January according to new data from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.    The unemployment rate in the Dillingham Census Area was 11.7-percent which is well above the 10.5-percent rate recorded back in December.      That 11.7-percent rate translates to 241 people officially classified as unemployed out of a labor force that totals just over 2-thousand people.    The January unemployment rate in the Lake and Peninsula Borough was 13.3-percent.    That’s up over 2 percentage points compared to the 11-percent rate back in December.    The highest unemployment rate in the Southwest region was the 21.4-percent unemployment rate in the Wade Hampton Census Area.    The next highest rate was the 15.5-percent recorded in the Bethel Census Area.   In December of 2009 the unemployment rate was 14.4-percent.   The unemployment rate in the Aleutians West Census Area was 6.5-percent, which is up compared to the 5.3-percent rate in December.    The unemployment rate in the Aleutians East Borough was 8.7-percent, which is only up 5 tenths of a percentage point compared to December.    The only area that recorded a drop in unemployment was the Bristol Bay Borough, which had a January rate of 13.3-percent.   That’s down a full percentage point from the rate recorded in December.    As a region the Southwest region had a January unemployment rate of 13.6-percent.   That translates to over 2.4-thousand people being officially classified as unemployed out of a total labor force of nearly 18-thousand people.      The lowest January unemployment rate in the state was the 5.1-percent recorded in the North Slope Borough and the highest rate was the 28.3-percent recorded in the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area down in Southeast Alaska.    The rate in other area of the state includes 7.5-percent in Anchorage, 11.3-percent in the Mat-Su Borough, 7.4-percent in the Kodiak Island Borough, 13.1-percent in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, and 9.1-percent in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.      Statewide the January unemployment rate was recorded at 9.6-percent, which is well above the 8.2-percent rate recorded in December and the 8.8-percent rate recorded in January of 2009.    Statewide there are over 34.4-thousand people officially classified as unemployed.   That number does not include the underemployed and those who have dropped out of the employment-unemployment system in Alaska.    When Alaska’s January unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted it drops down to 8.5-percent, which is lower than the 9.7-percent rate recorded nationally.     Total non-farm employment in January was 306,800 which is below the 307.2-thousand recorded back in December.    A closer look at the employment numbers shows at least one bright spot.   Manufacturing jobs increased from 6.5-thousand in December to over 12-thousand in January.    You can take a closer look at the January unemployment numbers online at http://www.labor.alaska.gov/.