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Unemployment rate in Alaska.

Article Excerpt
Alaska trends, an outline of significant statewide statistics, is provided by the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development and sponsored by American Fast Freight.

Alaska's unemployment rate considerably decreased over the last year from 7.3 percent in May 2004 to 6.3 percent in May of this year. This decrease is consistent with the rest of the United States. The unemployment rate for the United States in May 2004 was 5.6 percent, which decreased slightly to 5.1 percent in May 2005.

Examining Alaska's unemployment rate over a month's time indicates a decrease as well from 7.1 percent in April to 6.3 percent in May of this year. The unemployment rate for the United States also decreased slightly over a month's time: April of this year was 5.2 percent compared to 5.1 percent in May.

Alaska's two largest regions are perhaps responsible for this decrease. Anchorage's unemployment rate in April 2005 was 5.5 percent and decreased to 5 percent in May of this year. This is a full point decrease over Anchorage's unemployment rate in May 2004, which was 6 percent. Fairbanks also experienced a notable decrease in the unemployment rate for the month of May. Fairbanks' unemployment rate decreased from 6.3 percent in May 2004 to 5.3 percent in May 2005. The drastic decrease occurred over a month's time from 6.2 percent in April 2005 to 5.3 percent in May 2005.

Source: State of Alaska-Department of Labor and Workforce Development

Unemployment Rate May 2004 April 2005 May 2005 Alaska 7.3 7.1 6.3 United States 5.6 5.2 5.1 Note: Table made from bar graph. Unemployment Rate May 2004 April 2005 May 2005 Anchorage 6.0...