Alaska has about 7,900 more jobs in June than the previous year, still behind numbers from 2019

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Alaska had about 7,900 more jobs last month than in June 2021 but most industries still fell short of their job numbers three years earlier, before the pandemic, the state labor department said Friday.

Dan Robinson, an economist with the department, in an interview described the economy as "OK."

The economy "is recovering and continues to recover but it has not recovered," he said. There have been positive signs around the summer tourism season but there continues to be uncertainty around oil and gas, Robinson said.

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Alaska's economy is recovering as June records showed 7,900 more jobs than the previous year.

The oil sector is "I think probably the biggest important question mark because it just has hardly bounced," he said.

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The report showed the oil and gas sector had about 500 more jobs last month than a year earlier but 2,700 fewer than in June 2019.

The leisure and hospitality industry continued to see strong year-over-year growth, with about 3,700 more jobs last month than in June 2021. But the sector still had about 4,600 fewer jobs than in June 2019.

The trade, transportation and utilities industry had about 2,800 more jobs last month than a year earlier but about 3,500 fewer than in June 2019, the report said.

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Sectors that were at or above job levels from June 2019 included construction and health care.