Alaska's Unemployment Rate Stands at 5.7-Percent

The latest unemployment data shows a slight decrease in the unemployment rate in Alaska. The unadjusted rate in August was 5.7-percent, which is down from the 5.9-percent rate recorded in July. However, when Alaska’s unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted it jumps up to 6.5-percent. That’s up 2-tenths of a percentage point compared to July’s seasonally adjusted rate. Alaska’s unemployment rate is still below the national rate of 7.3-percent. The Southwest region of the state is still the only region with double-digit unemployment at 11.4-percent. The lowest unemployment rate in the state is the 1.9-percent recorded in the Bristol Bay Borough while the Wade Hampton Census Area posted the highest unemployment rate in the state at 20.1-percent. The August unemployment rate in the Lake and Peninsula Borough was 4.9-percent. The rate in the Aleutians East Borough was 9.2-percent and it was 6.5-percent in the Aleutians West Census Area. The August unemployment rate in the Bethel Census Area was 15.1-percent. The unemployment rate in the Dillingham Census Area was 7.6-percent, which is up compared to the 7.3-percent recorded in July. However, the rate is down compared to the 8.3-percent unemployment rate recorded in August of last year. All told there are just 186 people officially classified as unemployed in the Dillingham Census Area out of a total labor force of 2.4-thousand people. However, the latest estimates puts the population of the Census Area at nearly 5-thousand, which means that roughly half of the population is not reflected in the wage and salary employment and unemployment numbers. Statewide the civilian labor force is measured at over 369-thousand people and the statewide population is just over 710 thousand. That means that just over 340-thousand Alaskans are outside of the wage and salary labor force. A look at some other areas of the state shows that the August unemployment rate was 4.8-percent in Anchorage and it was 6.1-percent in the Mat-Su Borough. The Kenai Peninsula Borough also posted an unemployment rate of 6.1-percent. The rate in the Kodiak Island Borough was 4.2-percent and it was 5.1-percent in the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The unemployment rate in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area was 12.2-percent and it was 13.9-percent in the Northwest Arctic Borough. You can take a look at the unemployment data for August on the website of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.