Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains 1.4% above the comparable national rate.
In July, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.7 %, essentially unchanged from June’s 6.8%. The comparable national rate was 5.3%.
Alaska’s seasonally adjusted rate has remained level through the past four months. The adjusted rate smooths out the swings from summer to winter employment, which makes it easier to detect underlying economic trends.
July’s unadjusted rate was 5.9%, one whole percentage point lower than June’s 6.9%. Large drops in the unadjusted rate from June to July are typical as Alaska’s summer economy heats up.
Unadjusted rates fell in nearly every borough and census area in the state. July is one of the few months in the year when rates throughout the state move in the same direction due to increased activity in construction, tourism, and fishing.
The lowest rate was 2.1% in the Bristol Bay Borough, where commercial fishing dominates. The highest rate was in the recently renamed Kusilvak Census Area, at 26.9%. The unemployment rate in that economically depressed area was more than 10 percentage points higher than the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area and the Northwest Arctic Borough, which shared the next highest July rate at 16.5%.