Southwest Alaska Has Double Digit Unemployment

The Southwest region of Alaska is the only region in the State with double-digit unemployment. The February unemployment data was released on Friday and it shows a 13.2-percent unemployment rate in Southwest Alaska. That's down from the 14.4-percent in January but is slightly higher than the 12.9-percent rate recorded in February of 2012. The February unemployment rate in the Southeast region was 8.1-percent and it was 9.7-percent in the Northern region. The interior region posted a February rate of 7.6-percent and it was 8.6-percent in the Gulf Coast region. The lowest regional unemployment rate was the 5.9-percent in the Anchorage/Mat-Su region. The statewide unemployment rate in February was 7.2-percent. That's down from the 7.7-percent recorded in January and it's well below the 8.1-percent unemployment rate recorded in February of last year. When Alaska's unemployment rate is seasonally adjusted, it drops down to 6.5-percent. That's well below the national unemployment rate of 7.7-percent. A closer look at the data for Southwest Alaska shows that the Dillingham Census Area had a February unemployment rate of 10.2-percent. That's down significantly from the 11.8-percent rate recorded in January. The Bristol Bay Borough posted an unemployment rate of 9.1-percent, which is down from the 10.3-percent rate recorded in January. The unemployment rate in the Lake and Peninsula Borough was 10.8-percent. That's down from the 11.6-percent recorded in January. The highest unemployment rate in the region was the 23.2-percent in the Wade Hampton Census Area followed by the 16.4-percent in the Bethel Census Area. The lowest rate in the region was the 5.3-percent in the Aleutians West Census Area.    The Aleutians East Borough posted a February unemployment rate of 9.1-percent. A look around the state shows that Anchorage had a rate of 5.2-percent and it was 8.4-percent in the Mat-Su Borough. The Kenai Peninsula Borough posted a rate of 9.1-percent and it was just 5.1-percent in the Kodiak Island Borough. The unemployment rate in the Fairbanks North Star Borough was 6.4-percent and it's just 4.8-percent in the North Slope Borough. The highest unemployment rate in the State last month was the 25.6-percent recorded in the Hoonah-Angoon Census Area. The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development confirms that Alaska's February seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 6.5-percent is below the 10-year average of 7.1-percent. The national unemployment rate of 7.7-percent is above the 10-year average of 6.8-percent.