Employment rose in February but labor shortage persists

Unemployment in the Haines Borough was at 12% in February — the lowest recorded in February since 1991, according to state data.

Haines’ employed workforce grew from 781 in February 2019 to 839 in 2022. The number of people working in the borough in February hadn’t eclipsed 800 since 2013. (Each year the workforce swells, and unemployment falls, in summer.)

Yet a worker shortage persists, not only in Haines but across the state. Alaska had 30,000…