Alaska Employment: Positive Job Growth While September Unemployment Rate Holds Flat
Photo Credit: FUNTAP P | DREAMSTIME
Jobs in Alaska surpassed year-ago numbers for the first time in months, even as the September unemployment rate remained steady. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) puts the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September at 4.3 percent, the same as July and August. The rate is settling at a slightly lower plateau than the 4.6 to 4.7 percent trend in almost every month for more than a year.
Growth Barely Above Zero
DOLWD notes that the national unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.1 percent to 4.2 percent in September.
The unadjusted unemployment rate in the Anchorage/Mat-Su Region rose to 3.6 percent in September from 3.1 the month before, but it’s still lower than 3.7 percent in September 2025. All regions of the state saw higher rates than in August, except for the Northern region which was flat at 6 percent. In all cases, however, unadjusted rates in September were lower than a year earlier.
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October 2026
DOLWD counted 347,000 total nonfarm jobs in September, down from a revised 355,600 in August but 300 more than in September 2025, for a growth rate of 0.1 percent. The increase in September is the first growth since April; jobs totals were flat in May and negative all summer.
Growth came from the private sector while the government sector continued to shed jobs. Federal, state, and local employment, which includes public schools, rose in September to 77,900 from a revised 74,600 in August, but that compares to 79,800 a year earlier, a difference of 2.4 percent. Federal employment, which excludes uniformed military, was flat since August but down by 1,300 jobs since September 2025. State and local government employment both rose since August but were down by 400 and 200 jobs, respectively, compared to a year earlier.
Those 1,900 lost jobs were offset by 2,200 jobs gained in the private sector since September 2025, for a 0.8 percent growth rate, even though the total since August was down by almost 12,000. The professional and business services sector lost the most, down by 200 jobs over the year, and the retail and financial activities sectors each lost 100 jobs. Manufacturing saw a seasonal dip to 13,100, which was exactly the same as the previous September. The information sector, which has seen steady losses, plateaued at 4,200 jobs, with no month-to-month or year-to-year change. Leisure and hospitality was also flat.
All other sectors saw at least slight gains. The largest annual growth in percentage terms was in the oil and gas sector, rising to 9,400 jobs in September, for a 4.4 percent increase. The transportation, warehousing, and utilities sector dipped by 1,200 since August but posted the largest year-over-year gain with 900 jobs, or 3.2 percent growth.