The Alaska economy lost jobs for the fourth straight month, but the amount of job losses could be easing, according to numbers released Friday by the state Department of Labor.

The new numbers show the number of people on employers' payrolls statewide totaled 344,100 in August. That was 900 fewer jobs than in August of last year. But it was an improvement from the numbers for May and June, and about the same as the July job losses, when compared with the same months of last year.

Loss of payroll jobs is an indication that the sharp U.S. recession that started at the end of 2007 likely pushed Alaska into a recession of its own during the spring.

The construction, lodging, retail, food services and bars industries all are supporting noticeably fewer jobs, the department said. "All four of those industries have also seen moderate to severe job losses at the national level," the department said.

Partly offsetting those losses are gains in the health care industry as well as state and local government.

The job losses are heavier in Anchorage. While the state was down 900 jobs in August from a year earlier, Anchorage was down 1,400 jobs.

The Labor Department said the statewide, seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in August was 8.3 percent.

That compares to 8.2 percent in July. Alaska's unemployment rate has basically flattened out in the past four months. It was 6.7 percent a year ago.

The national rate for August was 9.7 percent. The national rate has climbed 3.5 percentage points in the past year compared with a 1.6 percentage point increase for Alaska, the department said.

An estimated 26,000 people in Alaska were out of work but looking last month. A year earlier about 22,000 people were unemployed.

Anchorage's unemployment rate in August was 6.5 percent, representing almost 10,000 people out of work but looking for jobs. Anchorage's rate was unchanged from July but up from 5.2 percent in August of last year.

The Mat-Su rate was 8.6 percent, down from 8.8 percent in July but a big jump form the 6.8 percent rate in August 2008.