The statewide job count increased by 6,000 between December 2022 and December 2023, the State Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Friday.
That 6,000 exceeds the department’s projection of 5,300 published in its “Economic Trends” in January of last year. It follows a gain of 6,400 in 2022 and 7,000 in 2021.
A regional breakdown of employment changes included with a press release from the department says that the Gulf Coast, which includes the Kenai Peninsula Borough, saw the greatest change in 2023, at a growth of 2.8%. That’s compared to 1.9% in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Region or 2.5% in Southeast. The Interior saw the least growth, at 1.2%, the data shows.
Despite the growth in the number of jobs, the unemployment rate has also risen statewide. In December 2022, according to data included with the release, the unemployment rate was 3.1%, but climbed by December 2023 — in what the data notes is preliminary data — to 4.0%. Similarly, in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, in the same window, the unemployment rate rose from 4.4% to 5.3%.
Growth was seen in all but one industry described in the provided data. Oil and gas, transportation, education and health care all saw growth, while “financial activities” saw a decline of around 100 jobs.
For government employment, the data says that federal and local jobs both saw growth in numbers, while the state lost around 100 jobs.
For more information, visit labor.alaska.gov.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
