Alaska Employment: Unemployment Rate Down in June, but Fewer Jobs than a Year Ago
Photo Credit: FUNTAP P | DREAMSTIME
Alaska’s unemployment rate fell slightly in June, despite a year-over-year decrease in the total number of jobs. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOLWD) puts the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for June at 4.4 percent, a slight dip from May and a notable deviation from the trend of 4.6 to 4.7 percent in almost every month for more than a year.
Figures Diverge
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 fell slightly in June to 4.2 percent.
The unadjusted unemployment rate in the Anchorage/Mat-Su Region ticked upward to 3.8 percent in June from 3.7 percent the month before, but it remains lower than 4.4 percent in June 2025. All regions of the state saw rates drop in June compared to a year earlier.
Total nonfarm employment rose to 354,000 in June from a revised 333,200 in May. The preliminary figure for May had exactly equaled the 343,600 from a year earlier, resulting in a 0.0 percent growth rate. For June, the growth figure turns negative, with 900 fewer jobs than the year before, or 0.3 percent shrinkage.
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“It is not particularly unusual for the jobs number and the unemployment rate to move in different directions in the short term,” says DOLWD economist Karinne Wiebold. “It would be unusual if the difference persisted for a long period of time, or if the chasm between the two were quite large.”
A single number underpins the negative growth: a loss of 1,900 jobs in the government sector wiped out the net gain of 1,000 in the private sector. The federal workforce went up to 14,100 in June compared to 13,800 in May, but that compares to 15,400 in June 2025. The loss of 1,300 federal jobs (which excludes uniformed military) shrank that workforce by 8.4 percent. State jobs fell from 24,000 in May to 23,000 in June, or a 2.5 percent year-over-year decrease. Local government employment, including public schools and tribes, was flat at 38,600.
Normally reliable gains in construction employment continued a downward trend in June, shrinking by 1.4 percent as that sector shed 300 jobs compared to a year earlier, although the total of 20,700 jobs in June was 1,700 more than in May. 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 200 jobs compared to a year ago, declining 0.7 percent to 30,200, still up by 900 since May. The leisure and hospitality sector revved up for peak season in June, filling 42,400 jobs compared to 28,100 in May, but the total is 500 fewer than in June 2025, for a 1.2 percent decline. The retail and wholesale sectors also posted unusual year-over-year losses, shrinking by 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
All other industry sectors saw year-over-year growth. The oil and gas sector grew by 10.2 percent, adding 900 jobs in June compared to a year earlier, rising to 9,700. Transportation, warehousing, and utilities nearly kept up, adding 800 jobs since June 2025 for 2.8 percent growth. Healthcare and manufacturing each added jobs as well.
