Alaska wage and salary employment was up 2% in July, continuing a steady trend of job gains since the beginning of the year. The comparisons are year-over-year, against July 2023, according to state Department of Labor and Workforce data .
Within the total, private sector jobs were up 2.1% compared with July a year prior, while government employment was up 1.4%, according to the data. High-wage jobs showed strong gains, buoyed by North Slope oil and gas activity, where two new oil projects, Willow and Pikka, are under construction.
Jobs in oil and gas are essential to Matanuska-Susitna Borough residents because many who live in the region commute to petroleum-related jobs on the North Slope, either with oil-producing companies or contractors who support the industry.
Construction jobs were up 14.6%, reflecting mainly the North Slope project work, while oil and gas employment, or workers hired by oil companies as compared to contractors, was up 6.6%.
Transportation, warehousing, and utility work were up 4.2% from July 2023, mostly influenced by trucking. North Slope work has led to strong demand for trucking services to move equipment and supplies up the Dalton Highway. Professional and business services, which included engineering and consultants, accounted for 3% of the total.
There were also monthly gains from June to July in all of these industries, although these increases were more seasonal in nature, building toward summer peaks in activity.
Some sectors showed only modest growth year-over-year. Retail was flat in July compared with the same month of 2023. Leisure and hospitality, which includes hotels, restaurants and bars and is reflective of the state’s tourist season, was up only 0.2%. This summer has seen a strong visitor season but last year, against which the July data is compared, was equally strong.
Health care continued its strong growth trend, up 4.2% in July year-over-year. Most of the increase was in hospital employment.
However, manufacturing, mostly seafood processing, was down 7.5% against July 2023. This reflects the poor season for fisheries across the state. The seafood industry is plagued with a number of problems this year, including poor markets created by Russia dumping salmon, cod, pollock, and crab on the market to gain revenue to pay for that nation’s war in Ukraine.
The depressed prices are across all fisheries in which Alaskans work, which is unusual.
Depressed seafood prices also come at a bad time, with Alaska harvesters and fish processors facing higher costs and labor shortages.
The strong U.S. dollar also makes Alaska seafood very expensive for nations that traditionally purchase it, such as Japan and the European Union.
The monthly labor department data is from employer surveys, which are later adjusted when employers file actual hiring totals, as required by law. However, reports on actual hiring come after a lag, so the monthly surveys provide a snapshot of employment trends that can be adjusted later.
