Alaska gained jobs in January and February, marking a turning point for the economy after more than three years of losses.
The first two months of the year each saw employment growth compared to the same months in 2018, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Employment in January was up 0.3 percent, and employment in February was up 0.1 percent, estimates from the department show.
The figures were modest but still an encouraging sign that the state is pulling out of its long recession, said Karinne Wiebold, an economist with the labor department. The uptick comes after 39 months of job losses.
“It’s small growth, but it’s definitely a positive direction,” she said.
There are some caveats. The estimates are preliminary and subject to revisions. But based on the information the labor department has now, “the chances are strong that we are growing,” Wiebold said.
[Matanuska-Susitna Borough has gained the most jobs during Alaska’s recession]
Construction employment had the strongest growth in both months, up 6.3 percent in January and 7.7 percent in February. That’s attributable to work in Interior Alaska in preparation for the arrival of F-35 fighter jets at Eielson Air Force Base, and some work related to the Nov. 30 earthquake, Wiebold said.
Oil and gas employment was also up, by 4.3 percent in January compared to the same month last year and 5.4 percent in February.
Manufacturing, which in Alaska is mostly in seafood processing, dropped about 4 percent in February. Retail jobs were down about 1 percent. Most industries saw small changes, whether gains or losses.
Alaska is expected to see net job growth in 2019 overall, the labor department projected in January.
The state has been in a recession since the last quarter of 2015. In 2016, the labor department said a good measure of whether a recession is happening is if there are at least three consecutive quarters of year-over-year job losses. Wiebold said it would make sense to measure it the same way coming out of a downturn.
“If you look at two quarters, it could be swayed by something like a really good summer tourism year,” she said. “It’s possible that after gathering more information, we could find out we maybe started growing in the fourth quarter of last year. But we think that we’re growing now.”
Some economists have said Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed state budget cuts would mean more job losses for Alaska.