Alaska's unemployment rate increased in June to 7.3 percent. The state Labor Department said that's a three-tenths percentage point increase from May's 7.0 percent.

The national rate for June was 8.2 percent.

State labor officials in a release say it's too early to say whether June's increase in Alaska is a start of a new trend.

Both the state and national rates have changed little in the first six months of the year, and are lower than this time last year. The state rate in June 2011 was half a percentage point lower than this time last year, and the national rate is eight-tenths of a point lower.