MNI also finds that Alaska's largest industrial sectors performed the best over the year. Food products represents Alaska’s biggest industrial employment sector with 11,289 jobs, up 2.7 percent over the year while oil and gas extraction come in next with 9,062 jobs, an increase of 4.9 percent over the last 12 months. Petroleum and coal products are the next biggest industrial with with 3,811 jobs, up 1.2 percent.

Alaska’s losses are in fabricated metals at minues 8.6 percent, lumber and wood at minus 9.5 percent, textiles and apparel at minus 5.5 percent, and printing and publishing at minus 3.5 percent. In all remaining sectors, employment kept steady.

South Central Alaska accounts for more than half of the industrial jobs, MNI finds, while employment in Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island employ 20,516 jobs, a 2.7 percent increase in the past 12 months. The Aleutian Islands has 4,412 of Alaska’s industrial jobs, representing no significant change, and Fairbanks North Star employs 1,978 jobs, a 3.4 percent decline over the year. The North Slope region, which is known for its oil, has 1,453 jobs, a 1 percent increase from last year.