Oil & gas jobs up 5.9% from August 2021

Petroleum News

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said Sept. 16 that jobs in the state in August were up by 3.1% from August 2021, an increase of 10,200. The August count was 338,500, down from 340,500 in July, but a gain of 10,200 from 328,300 in August 2021. The total is down by 13,700 from an August 2019 count of 352,200 jobs.

In the oil and gas sector, the August job count was 7,200, unchanged from July, but up 400 from August 2021, an increase of 5.9%. In August 2019, however, there were 10,100 oil and gas jobs, leaving the current total 2,900 below the pre-pandemic number. The department said the August count for oil and gas jobs was about 1,000 above a late 2020 pandemic low.

Several job sectors have fully recovered since the pandemic: construction, health care, federal government and local government. Major sectors with the most ground left to make up are leisure and hospitality and oil and gas.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the state was 4.5% in August, compared to a U.S. rate of 3.7%.

- Petroleum News