Alaska employers paid $4.5 billion in wages for June, July and August of 2017, a 3.6 percent drop from the same period a year earlier, with 90 percent of that loss in Anchorage, the Fairbanks North Star Borough and the North Slope Borough.
New data released by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development identified those losses at $100 million for Anchorage, $21.8 million for Fairbanks and $31.1 million for the North Slope.
Private sector wages fell by 8.8 percent in oil and gas and 12.8 percent in construction, while seafood processing wages rose by 4.3 percent after falling 10.4 percent in the second quarter of 2017.
State government wages fell 4.0 percent, federal government, 2.6 percent; and local government, including public schools and tribal government, fell 2.7 percent.
Employment statewide fell 0.8 percent year ago levels. Oil and gas employment decreased by 7.4 percent, construction by 5.7 percent and information by 6.5 percent. While losses in oil and gas and construction remain the deepest, they appear to be slowing, in second quarter, oil and gas employment fell 14.9 percent and construction dropped 8.7 percent. Employment rose over the year in manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, health care, accommodation and local government.
