Unemployment rates for Cordova stood at 10% for March, compared with 10.7% in March 2020, while the state recorded job losses of 6.9 percent, or 21,900 jobs, compared to March 2020.
State labor officials said this is the last time they can compare a current month to a comparatively healthy pre-pandemic month. Massive job losses hit last April.
The largest losses were in the leisure and hospitality industries, with 7,200, or 23.2%, fewer jobs than the previous March. Oil and gas employment dropped by 3,600, or 36.4%. Professional and business services jobs were down by 2,500 jobs, or 9.1%. The transportation warehousing and utilities sector was down 2,000, or 10%, and the job count in private education and health care lost 1,500 jobs, or 2.9%.
State government employment meanwhile was up by 200 jobs from the previous arch, mostly due to pandemic-related hires in public health and unemployment insurance. Meanwhile federal jobs were down by 500 from last March, when the 2020 Census was under way. Local government jobs were down by 2,000, primarily in K-12 public education.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained at 6.6% in March. The comparable federal rate fell from 6.2% to 6%.
