Alaska adds jobs, still down from a year ago

JUNEAU (AP) - Alaska had 19,100 more jobs in April than it did the same month in 2020, but the numbers still lagged what they were before the pandemic, the state labor department reported last Friday.

There were an estimated 297,200 nonfarm jobs in Alaska last month, compared to 278,100 in April 2020 but down from 322,400 in April 2019, the report shows.

The unemployment rate in Alaska was 6.7% in April versus the national rate of 6.1%.

The unemployment rate in Wrangell was 7.6%, a big improvement from 12.9% a year ago.

The report provides a comparison to April 2020, the first month in which h...