Unemployment Down to 6 Percent in November

Alaska’s unemployment rate went down in November compared to the previous month.

The state Department of Labor & Workforce Development puts the seasonally adjusted rate at 6 percent in November, a slight decrease from the 6.1 percent of October and approximately the same level of unemployment Alaska saw in 2017 and 2018.

Not Quite Back to Pre-Pandemic Level

The rate in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough was a combined 4.9 percent, unmoved from October and a decrease from 6 percent a year before. Unemployment in the Interior rose slightly from 4.9 to 5.1 percent, month to month. Southeast Alaska also rose to 5.1 percent. Winter oil activity lowered monthly unemployment in the Northern region from 8.1 to 8 percent in November.

A few regions now have higher unemployment rates than in November 2020: the Valdez-Cordova Census Area rose to 8.2 percent, the Denali Borough rose to 15.1, the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area up to 9.8, and the Kusilvak Census Area in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta rose to 16.3, higher than 14.8 percent a year before.