Anchorage Daily News

Alaska's unemployment rate held steady in April, the state Department of Labor reported.

But a slowdown in payroll-job growth sends a clearer signal of a cooling economy, said Dan Robinson, a state labor economist.

He was referring to how many jobs employers had added to their payrolls in the past year. Whether that number is rising or falling is considered a good indicator of whether the state economy is growing or shrinking.

The number has been growing since the late 1980s. But the growth rate has been stuck below 1 percent for about a year, something that hasn't happened since 1995-96.

In April, private and government employers had 2,200 more workers on their payroll than they did a year earlier, a 0.7 percent growth rate.

Certain industries are growing much better than that rate, and others are shedding jobs.

Buoyed by record prices, oil and gas companies had 1,000 more workers in April than they did a year earlier, up 9 percent.

The retail industry was up 800 jobs, a 2 percent growth rate.

But the construction industry was down 800 jobs, or 5 percent. The financial industry - weighed down by fewer home loans being issued - supported 100 fewer jobs in April compared with a year earlier, down almost 1 percent.

Robinson said health care industry job growth has "leveled off after more than a decade of strong gains."

"So far, though, the issue for Alaska has been a slowdown in growth as opposed to the actual job losses the national economy is experiencing," he said.

That national slump likely is playing a role in Alaska's numbers, as is the relative attractiveness of the job markets in Washington, California and Oregon in particular, he said.

The Alaska unemployment rate in April was 6.7 percent of the work force. The Labor Department estimated about 25,000 workers lacked jobs but were looking during the month. A year earlier, the number of jobless workers was 22,000, the department said.

In Anchorage, the unemployment rate was 5.6 percent, compared with 5 percent in April last year. That meant the city had about 8,700 jobless workers, compared with 7,500 a year earlier.

The Mat-Su jobless rate was 8.3 percent in April, down from 9 percent in March but up from 7.5 percent in April last year. The Valley had 3,300 jobless workers during the month.

The Kenai Peninsula rate was 9.2 percent, compared with 9.9 percent in March and 8.5 percent in April last year. The borough had 2,400 jobless workers last month.

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