Story last updated at 8/26/2009 - 2:10 pm
JUNEAU - The state Department of Labor says the jobless rate shows the recession is hurting Alaska's economy to a lesser degree than in most states.
Alaska's rate in July was 8.3 percent, the same as the adjusted rate for the previous month. It's up from the 6.7 percent jobless state rate a year ago but below the national rate of 9.4 percent.
The department says Alaska's rate appears to have stabilized, although the job numbers remained below 2008 levels for the third straight month.
Alaska may be doing better than the rest of the nation because it has few manufacturing jobs of the types that have been disappearing and employment in the state oil industry has been resilient.
