Alaska can expect even more job losses in 2017 than last year

After worse-than-anticipated job losses in 2016, Alaska is now expecting even more in the year ahead.

Alaska is forecast to lose about 7,500 jobs — a drop of 2.3 percent — in 2017, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said in an economic report released Thursday. That prediction reflects "decline in nearly every major industry."

The state's multibillion-dollar budget deficit and sensitivity to oil prices remain Alaska's two biggest economic hurdles, the report said. But losses that hit oil and gas, construction, and professional and business services hardest last year will now continue to spread to other sectors in what the report called a more "broad-based decline."

"This year will be characterized by widespread reductions in the service industries that depend on consumer spending, which will be dampened by lost wages and lower confidence," the report said.

Read more: https://www.adn.com/business-economy/2017/01/05/alaska-can-expect-even-more-job-losses-in-2017-than-last-year/