In April, Haines Borough unemployment rose to 27.3%, an all-time high for the Chilkat Valley.

Haines’ seasonal economy typically means unemployment is at its highest January through March before steadily dropping to a low in the summer months.

This year didn’t follow that pattern. According to Alaska Department of Labor statistics, the 2020 April unemployment rate is the highest recorded in Haines in any month for the past 30 years. Last April, unemployment was 8.6%.

For April 2020, Haines had the second highest unemployment rate of any community in the state, second only to Skagway at 31.4%. Alaska’s average for April was 13.7%, just below the national average.

“I don’t think anybody could have predicted this until we saw the numbers,” Haines Economic Development Corporation (HEDC) executive director Margaret Friedenauer said. “This is the first month of data that puts some numbers to the issue (of COVID-19 job losses).”

Unemployment claims are likely to increase in May.

April’s numbers don’t account for the broadening of unemployment eligibility, Friedenauer said. Entrepreneurs, sole proprietors and independent contractors—groups including fishermen and artists—who normally aren’t able to apply for unemployment, are now eligible under the CARES Act. But it took the state until the end of April to set up a system through which these groups could apply for benefits.

For April, the hardest hit industries include tourism and construction.

The data collected by the state breaks down unemployment numbers by industry, but it doesn’t include a tourism category.

Tourism-related businesses fall into several sectors including arts, accommodation, transportation and food service, Friedenauer said. Although not every job in these four categories is a tourism job, a significant number are. In total, unemployment claims in these categories comes to 89.

For construction, unemployment claims rose to 42 in April.

Friedenauer said she’s hopeful construction unemployment claims will drop this summer, once the Department of Transportation’s Haines Highway project begins. The earliest the project could start is late July, according to DOT.

Friedenauer said it’s hard to predict what unemployment numbers will look like in the coming months. May numbers will be higher than April’s, but after that, she said she thinks numbers could level out, unless more businesses start closing.

Under the CARES Act, the federal boost for unemployment—an additional $600 a week—is set to expire at the end of July. There’s potential that benefits could be extended, but if not, Friedenauer said she worries about what will happen come August when the unemployed are reduced to the state’s payments, which range from $56 to $370, depending on past earnings.

For those who rely on summer earnings to get them through the year, unemployment benefits, even with a temporary $600 boost, may not be enough.

“Seasonal workers here rely on the summer months to make a year’s worth of income,” Haines Chamber of Commerce executive director Tracey Harmon said. “This is of the most concern to me—families and businesses not making the income to weather the winter storm—or perhaps the next wave of COVID.”