Alaska Employment: Job Growth and Unemployment Flat in May
Photo Credit: FUNTAP P | DREAMSTIME
Alaska’s unemployment barely budged in May, holding steady as it has for nearly every month since early 2025. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) puts the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May at 4.6 percent, the same as the revised rate for April, itself only a slight variation from the 4.7 rate in almost every month for more than a year.
Government Shrinkage
Alaska saw a streak of 4.7 percent unemployment every month since mid-2024, except for last July when it rose briefly to 4.8 percent, then again in December and January. (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.
DOLWD notes that the national unemployment rate was also unchanged in May at 4.3 percent.
The unadjusted unemployment rate in the Anchorage/Mat-Su Region dropped to 3.7 percent in May from 4.4 in April. All regions saw rates drop compared to a year earlier.
Current Issue
August 2026
Total nonfarm employment rose to 343,600 in May from a revised 331,800 the month before. The job count exactly equals the total from May 2025, so DOLWD doesn’t even need to round the growth rate, like last month, to reach 0.0 percent.
A 2.9 percent loss in the Government sector wiped out a 0.9 percent gain in Private sector employment. Federal employment (excluding uniformed military) rose slightly in May to 13,800 from 13,300 in April, but that figure was 1,500 fewer jobs than a year earlier, a decrease of 9.8 percent. That shrinkage combined with 700 fewer jobs in the state government and 200 in local government, which includes public schools.
Normally reliable gains in Construction employment continued a downward trend in May, shrinking by 3.1 percent as that sector shed 600 jobs compared to May 2025, although the total of 19,000 jobs in May was 800 more than in April. The Information sector continues to decline, down by 2.3 percent with 100 fewer jobs year-over-year to stand at 4,200. Professional and Business Services lost 300 jobs compared to a year ago, declining 1.0 percent to 29,300, still up by 1,100 since April. The Retail and Wholesale sectors also posted unusual job losses, each shrinking by 100 year-over-year, for 0.3 percent and 1.5 percent negative growth, respectively.
All other industry sectors saw year-over-year growth. The Oil and Gas sector grew by 11.6 percent, adding 1,000 jobs in May compared to a year earlier, even though the 9,600 counted in May was down slightly from the month before. Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities added the most, with 1,600 more jobs compared to May 2025, for 5.9 percent growth and 28,900 jobs.
