Anchorage Daily News

Job losses in Alaska continued in July but the global recession is hurting the state's economy less than in most states, the state Labor Department said today.

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Private and government employers statewide had an estimated 345,000 people on payroll in July. But that was 1,300 fewer jobs than they had a year earlier, the third straight month Alaska has shown job losses.

That's the longest string of job losses since the state's late-1980s recession.

The figures for Anchorage also show job losses for May, June and July.

"The unemployment rate and job continue to show that the national recession is hurting Alaska's economy, but to a lesser degree than in most states," the Labor Department said.

The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged in July at 8.3 percent. The rate appears to have stabilized in recent months after touching bottom at about 6 percent in early 2007, the department said.

Alaska's rate is also much lower than the U.S. rate of 9.4 percent. "Before this year, the last time Alaska's unemployment rate was lower than the nation's was in 1983," the department said.

Alaska has few of the kinds of manufacturing jobs disappearing elsewhere, the department said. Another reason the state is doing better than the nation as a whole is that the oil industry "has been remarkably resilient," the department said. Since peaking at 13,300 jobs last September, the industry has lost just 100 jobs through July despite an oil-price plunge and fluctuations in demand for oil because of the recession, the department said.

Although construction, retailing, hotels and real estate are down in terms of jobs this year, some industries continue to grow in Alaska, including health care and education, Labor Department figures show.

Just compared with June, Alaska employers added 5,100 jobs, a seasonal increase that happens almost every year. Last year, the seasonal bump was 5,400 jobs in July.

Statewide, about 28,000 people were without work but looking last month. In Anchorage about 11,000 people were jobless.

Anchorage's unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, was 6.7 percent in July, compared with 7.2 percent in June and 5.1 percent in July last year.

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