Anchorage Daily News

The Alaska unemployment rate rose to 6.9 percent last month, the state Department of Labor said.

That was up from 6.7 percent in June and from 6.2 percent in July of last year, the department said. However, over the past four months the jobless rate has shown no clear trend, the department said.

The state estimates 22,690 workers were without jobs but looking last month.

Despite the rising rate, more workers were employed statewide in July than were working a year earlier -- a statistic economists say suggests the Alaska economy is still growing.

Alaska is one of a handful of states that have continued to see employment growth, the department said.

The state's job-growth rate of 1.3 percent from December to June, the most recent month for which numbers are available from all states, is the third strongest growth rate in the country, the department said.

Anchorage's unemployment rate was 5.3 percent, down from 5.8 percent in June but up from 4.9 percent in July of last year. The state estimates 8,200 workers were without jobs but looking for one in July.

The Mat-Su jobless rate was 7.3 percent and the Kenai Peninsula rate was 6.7 percent. In both cases the rate was better than in June but higher than the region experienced a year earlier.

The state's lowest unemployment rate in July was in the Bristol Bay Borough, 1.5 percent.

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