The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development released the December unemployment rate on Friday. Alaska ended the year with 6.7 percent unemployment, two percentage points higher than the national rate.
Preliminary data shows a decline of 7,600 jobs compared to December 2015. Most of the private losses came from oil and gas, construction, and professional business services. State government had the highest losses in the public sector.
Anchorage and Fairbanks both have 5.7 percent unemployment, while Juneau is at the national rate or 4.7 percent. Skagway had the highest percentage at 20.3 percent, while Sitka had the lowest rate at 4.3 percent.
For full employment statistics, visit http://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/labforce/index.cfm
