Alaska Employment: April Unemployment Rate Steady at 3.7 Percent

Alaska’s unemployment rate held steady in April. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) puts the seasonally adjusted figure at 3.7 percent, the same as March.

How Low Can It Go?

The unadjusted unemployment rate in the Anchorage area is lower, at 3.4, with the municipality at 3.1 percent and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough at 4.4 percent. The state’s lowest unemployment was in the Aleutians East Borough at 1.8 percent; the Aleutians West Census Area saw 2.7 percent, comparable to Juneau and Sitka at 2.5 and 2.6 percent, respectively, both slightly lower than in March.

Every region had lower unadjusted rates in April compared to a year earlier, but a few local areas were higher, year-over-year. Haines and Prince of Wales Island are up (to 6.8 and 6.3 percent, respectively), as is the Chugach Census Area, which encompasses Prince William Sound and Cordova, rising from 3 percent last April to 4.7 percent this year.

Total number of jobs in Alaska was up by 2 percent year over year, an increase of 6,100 since April 2022. DOLWD puts total nonfarm employment at 318,600, up by nearly 5,000 from the March total.