Unemployment continues rising in the Aleutian region. The Alaska Department of Labor puts the rate for Unalaska and the Western Aleutians at 16.5 percent for May.

The unemployment rate was at 10.2 percent in April, and 4.9 percent the month before that. The amount of people actively looking for work in the Aleutians often coincides with the region’s major fishing seasons, with unemployment going down at the top of the pollock and crab seasons.

Economist Neal Fried says that even though there is some logic to Unalaska’s numbers, it’s still difficult to predict the dramatic swings in its unemployment rate.

“Yours probably jumps around more than just about any other place in the country,” says Fried.

He adds that because Unalaska is such an outlier and because it has a relatively small population, it’s difficult to make any sense of what the numbers mean month to month. He also adds that while the unemployment rate is supposed to count residents only, Unalaska’s large transient population can have some effect on the number.

The state unemployment was 7.0 percent in May, while the national rate was at 8.2 percent.