Women and those in lowest income brackets disproportionately affected
As 2020 came to a close, unemployment claims in Haines remained high compared to the prior year. In December 2019, 77 individuals filed for unemployment, compared to 136 who filed during the same month in 2020.
Before the pandemic, Haines unemployment tended to fluctuate seasonally, according to data kept by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development (DOL). In 2019, unemployment claims were highest in the winter, between 60 and 80 per month, and lowest in the summer, below 10 per month.
In the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 cases began popping up in Alaska, prompting the closure of nonessential businesses and travel restrictions between communities, that pattern began to change. Between March and April, the number of people filing for unemployment in Haines shot up from 98 to 243, a new record for the community. The number continued to climb, peaking at 277 in May.
Haines unemployment remained well above 200 throughout the summer. The high unemployment numbers were in keeping with job losses throughout the region. Southeast was one of the hardest hit regions in the state due to loss of the tourism industry, the result of a cruise ship ban, state travel restrictions and the U.S.-Canada border closure.
In the fall, unemployment claims began to drop in both Haines and the state as a whole for two main reasons.
“Some of it is individuals basically exhausting their benefits,” state economist Lennon Weller said. “There’s also some who were able to find a new job as some of the (COVID-19) restrictions were relaxed. Claims dropped as businesses were able to reopen or reposition.”
Trends in Haines’ 2020 unemployment insurance claims resemble patterns observed in the rest of the state, according to Weller.
In keeping with state and national trends, the community saw a disproportionate rise in women filing for unemployment in 2020. Weller said this has a lot to do with the types of industries impacted by the pandemic.
“Women have been disproportionately impacted. Normally, a good chunk, thirty to forty percent, of claimants on an annual basis are directly related to construction and seafood processing, and oil and gas—male dominated fields. We’ve seen a shift during COVID-19 to more broad service sector industries—food service, leisure and hospitality were hit hard,” Weller said, adding that additional elements like school closures could be a factor as well.
Unemployment insurance claims data for Haines shows that other demographics hit hardest by the pandemic are people in the 25-64 age range, the bulk of the workforce, and those in the lowest income brackets. Between March and April 2020, unemployment insurance claims for those who made below $10,000 went up by a factor of five, the greatest increase in any income bracket.
Weller said these trends are also in keeping with nationwide employment trends during the pandemic.
“Largely, the impact to industries and specific occupations fell predominately on lower wage occupations and industries,” Weller said.
The Haines unemployment rate in December was 10.5%, according to a DOL press release from January. The press release notes that unemployment rates for Alaska continue to be a misleading economic indicator as national surveys used to calculate these numbers have been difficult to conduct during the pandemic. Statewide, job losses and unemployment insurance claim numbers remain high compared to past years, the press release states.