JUNEAU, Alaska—Employment in Alaska increased by 2,591 jobs, or 0.8 percent, in the first half of 2015 compared to the first half of 2014. Average monthly employment from January through June was 335,330.
Employers paid $9.0 billion in wages during the first six months of 2015, a 2.1 percent increase from the same period in the previous year, when adjusted for inflation.
Job growth was driven by the private sector, which added 2,663 jobs while public sector employment fell by 72. Government losses slowed in the first half of 2015 compared to previous years, largely because the five-year trend of significant federal job losses subsided.
A mix of industries drove growth in the first half of 2015. Construction added 971 jobs, but much of that was due to a coding change that moved jobs from the oil and gas industry to construction. The two industries combined added more than 1,000 jobs in the first half of 2015.
Retail trade continued its growth spurt in the first half of 2015 with 680 additional jobs, driven by new store openings. Private health care providers added 540 jobs in the first half of 2015, although some of those gains were offset by losses in private social services. The leisure and hospitality industry added 703 jobs, largely because of hires in bars and restaurants.
The only private industry that lost a substantial number of jobs was seafood processing. These losses were due to fewer hires during winter groundfish fisheries and a late Bristol Bay sockeye return.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]
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