Alaska’s unemployment rate for May was 7.4 percent.
State Department of Labor data show’s that’s up slightly from April’s 7.3 percent and compares to a national rate in May of 9.1 percent.
Department figures show the expected seasonal increase in fishing and tourism jobs. Jobs declined in government and financial activites.
Out of a state workforce of 364,284, the department says 26,915 are jobless.
The state definition of unemployment does not include people who have made no attempt to find work in the previous month. Many in rural Alaska who don’t have jobs are not counted as unemployed because there are few openings.
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