KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Not surprisingly, Kodiak’s unemployment rate fell in the month of June, down slightly from May.
The Kodiak Island Borough’s 6-point-7 percent jobless rate was down a couple of notches from May’s 6-point- 9 percent. It was down a full percentage point from the statewide average of 7-point-7 percent.
Overall, there were 6,825 workers in the Kodiak borough workforce in June-up from 6,384 in May. That means 441 more people had jobs inside the Kodiak Island Borough in June than did in May.
These jobless figures are unadjusted for seasonal differences. While in Kodiak that might seem to have something to do with our big ebb and flow of jobs between winter and summer-in actuality, seasonal adjustment deals with statistical calculations and data tweaking. The reason state job statisticians always mention seasonal adjustment is because it’s important not to compare seasonally adjusted figures to non-seasonally adjusted. For Kodiak Island, though, quite often there is not much of a difference between the different sets of figures.
The Kodiak Island Borough is featured in the state’s employment magazine about different aspects of jobs and worker trends around the state.
The June issue of "Alaska Economic Trends" features Kodiak and contains a lot of interesting information on the area. It is even interesting enough to read yourself or to e-mail home to your family and friends to give them a better idea of life in Kodiak.
For instance the section on the Kodiak Island Borough lists population figures for the borough between the year 2000 and 2009, including villages and Bells Flats. These are not the new census figures, but are interesting none-the-less. Population in the borough actually fell by about 50 people between 2000 and 2009. And the population of Women’s Bay Community-better known as Bells Flats-was up 50 people during the same period. The village of Akhiok took a big hit during the same time-frame-losing roughly 64 percent of its population. According to state labor department figures, Akhiok had 80 residents the year 2000, last year there were just 51.
And in fishing related job news, there are substantially fewer non-residents working in Kodiak’s seafood industry then there are in other big fishing areas. More than 90 percent of seafood processing workers in the Aleutian East Borough are non-residents. The statewide average is close to 75 percent. Here in Kodiak, less than half of the yearly seasonal processing workers are non-residents.
To find the PDF file on Kodiak’s economy Google: Alaska Economic Trends June 2010.
