Governor Palin 4 President

A Twit From The Governor: "AK’s unemplmnt level dropped in April. State added 3,600 seasonal, private-sector jobs in construction & tourism."

Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell four-tenths of a percentage point in April to 8.0%, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. March’s rate was revised down one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.4%. Regular claims for unemployment insurance (excluding special programs in place to extend unemployment benefits) fell from 98,788 in March to 80,424 in April. The decline was a typical seasonal drop, although claims are well above recent years’ levels.

The U.S. unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a percentage point in April to 8.9% & payroll employment continued to fall. Since the recession began in December 2007, the nation’s total job count has fallen by 5.7 million jobs. The state added 3,600 jobs from March to April as seasonal hiring accelerated in construction & tourist-related industries. The April increase was smaller than in recent years & over-the-year growth in payroll jobs has slowed to 0.3 percent after averaging 1.4% in 2008.

Through March, the only other states besides Alaska still showing over-the-year job growth were Louisana & N Dakota. Alaska industries with signifi cant over-the-year growth in April were oil & gas, which was up 600 jobs, & health care, which was up 700. Jobs in construction were down 800 over the year. Seafood processing, retail trade, financial activities, & food services and drinking places were down by smaller margins.

http://labor.state.ak.us/news/2009/news09-31.pdf