JUNEAU, Alaska – Alaska’s oil and gas industry experienced modest growth last month as some sectors of the economy have continued shedding jobs, according to a state jobs report.

December employment numbers released Friday by the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development show some losses from the recession are slowing, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported .

“The negatives have, generally speaking, gotten considerably smaller, especially in negatives like oil and gas, which was a big, big loser,” said state economist Neal Fried.

More people were employed in the oil and gas industry in December than the same month in 2017, Fried said.

Oil industry jobs have been falling since they peaked in 2015.

The labour department had predicted some growth in the industry this year.

Work in the oilfields could slow down if prices drop dramatically once again and remain low.

Plans for this year on oil and gas projects are probably not going to be affected “unless something really dramatic happened with price,” Fried said.

“If you get started, you’re probably going to finish it,” Fried said.

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Information from: KTOO-FM, http://www.ktoo.org