Alaska Employment: Job Count and Unemployment Rate Nearly Flat to Start 2026
Photo Credit: FUNTAP P | DREAMSTIME
The year’s first reading on employment in Alaska shows government job losses in 2025 nearly canceled out private sector gains. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) puts the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for January at 4.8 percent, the same as the December rate that closed out 2025.
How 2025 Shook Out
The tick up to 4.8 percent interrupts a streak of 4.7 percent unemployment in Alaska every month since mid-2024, except for last July when it also rose briefly to 4.8 percent. (Data for September and October was unavailable due to the federal government shutdown.) Rates have been essentially flat since slowly climbing from a low point of 3.8 percent in August 2022.
The national unemployment rate started the year at 4.3 percent in January, down from December’s 4.4.
Seasonal adjustment means that labor economics use statistical methods to smooth the predictable fluctuations in, for example, the construction, fishing, and tourism sectors, which regularly peak in summer and decline in the winter. DOLWD says removing that expected seasonal fluctuation provides a clearer picture of whether rates are rising or falling, aside from normal ups and downs over the course of the year.
Current Issue
May 2026
The unadjusted unemployment rate in the Anchorage/Mat-Su Region rose in January to 4.8 percent from 4.3 percent in December. Every region of Alaska saw the same or higher rates compared to January 2025, except for the Gulf Coast region thanks to a drop in the Copper River Census Area (centered on Glennallen) to 9.1 percent from an unusually high 13.5 percent a year earlier.
Total nonfarm employment stood at 322,100 in January, a rise of 200 jobs compared to a year earlier, for 0.1 percent growth. Federal employment (excluding uniformed military) fell to 13,100 in January from 15,100 a year earlier. Those 2,000 jobs represent 13.2 percent of the federal workforce in Alaska at the start of 2025. Furthermore, state employment fell by 1.7 percent to 23,700, shedding 400 jobs during the year, mainly from the University of Alaska system, according to DOLWD. Local government employment was flat at 40,900.
Two other sectors shrank compared to January 2025. Professional and Business Services lost 300 jobs, declining 1.1 percent to 27,400, and Information fell by 4.7 percent, losing 200 jobs to settle at 4,100.
Manufacturing saw the biggest percentage gain, year over year, adding 700 jobs since January 2025 to grow to 10,700, or 7 percent. The Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities sector added the most jobs, with 900, growing by 3.9 percent to employ 23,800 Alaskans in January 2026. The Healthcare sector also grew by 700 jobs, or 1.6 percent, to stand at 43,300.
Now that the first quarter of the calendar year is over, DOLWD is catching up on the backlog of data, with figures for February scheduled for release in two weeks.
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