Skip to content Back to Top

The following is a greeting given in one of the 20 indigenous languages recognized by the State of Alaska.

Ade' ndadz dengit'a?
(Deg Xinag)
"Hello, how are you?"


Labor & Workforce Devleopment
State of Alaska > DOLWD > Alaska Economic Trends

2016 Alaska Economic Trends
Click to subscribe icon of mailing envelope

Alaska Economic Trends are searchable from 1978 to the present using the Trends search page. The search can include any combination of the title or subtitle, date or date range, author, or full text.


December 2016 Air Traffic Controllers
Click to read December 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Air traffic controllers play an outsized role in a state that relies heavily on air transportation and where pilots face a wide range of hazards. Alaska has more air traffic controllers per capita than any other state — seven times the national average and nearly twice that of the next-highest state, New Hampshire.

Alaska has about 500 civilian air traffic controllers — 2.2 percent of the U.S. total — and nearly all of them work for the Federal Aviation Administration or as federal contractors. An additional 117 controllers are military.
December 2016 Trends

   
November 2016 Determining Salmon Prices
Click to read November 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Commercial salmon harvesting is vital to many coastal towns and employs far more people than any other Alaska fishery. The salmon fishing industry is highly volatile, with prices and catch volumes subject to big changes from year to year. From 2013 to 2015, for example, prices for Alaska pink and sockeye salmon fell by over 50 percent.
November 2016 Trends

   
October 2016 Forecast for Industries and Occupations - 2014 to 2024
Click to read October 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

The oil price drop that began two years ago has dampened Alaska’s economic outlook, but the state is still projected to add 19,652 jobs between 2014 and 2024, equating to 5.8 percent growth. While we expect most industries to grow over the 10-year period, several that are linked to oil and gas are projected to lose ground.
October 2016 Trends

   
September 2016 When the North Slope is Home
Click to read September 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Hundreds of millions of years ago, shale, sandstone, and other organic matter was deposited on the northern coast of Alaska, washing in with the tides or sliding off the mountain ranges. These substances lay dormant, compressing into oil over time.

It was the discovery of this massive oil deposit at Prudhoe Bay in 1968 that brought the North Slope’s people and geology to the world stage and changed the course of Alaska’s future, ushering in the construction of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline and bringing in a flood of outside workers and interests.
September 2016 Trends

   
August 2016 Alaska's Rental Market
Click to read August 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Our 2016 annual residential rental survey shows that Alaska rents are essentially level with last year and the overall rental vacancy rate has fallen slightly.

Statewide, rents have increased just seven-tenths of a percentage point, or $9, since last year, bringing the average rent for all unit types to $1,238 including utilities.
August 2016 Trends

   
July 2016 The Cost of Living in Alaska
Click to read July 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

The biggest news for our living costs over the past year has been the continuing decline in energy prices. In Anchorage, which is the only place in the state where inflation is measured, energy prices fell by 10.3 percent in 2015, the single largest annual decline since 2009. Gasoline prices alone fell nearly 25 percent.

Lower energy prices are heavily tied to other categories, particularly transportation, which fell by nearly 7 percent. Because transportation has such a large “weight” in the index — which means it’s a significant expenditure for most households — these changes have a powerful effect on the overall inflation rate.
July 2016 Trends

   
June 2016 1 in 10 Alaskans is a Veteran
Click to read June 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

At 10 percent, Alaska has a higher share of veterans than any other state. Four other states come close at 9 percent and nationwide it’s 7 percent.

Alaska’s high percentage of veterans, defined here as civilians who were previously active duty in any branch of the military including the Coast Guard, is tied to our military history. During World War II, the U.S. established major military bases near Anchorage and Fairbanks and built a number of other facilities, such as a Naval Air Station on Kodiak Island. Military presence peaked in 1943, when more than 150,000 personnel represented over 60 percent of the state’s population.
June 2016 Trends

   
May 2016 Gender and Nontraditional Work
Click to read May 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Alaska has long been considered a land of economic opportunity for rugged people willing to take on risk and harsh conditions. Historically, men took advantage of those opportunities far more frequently than women, largely due to social, legal, and economic barriers to women participating in nontraditional work.

Despite those limitations, many women made their mark on Alaska’s history as prospectors, bush pilots, politicians, and in nearly every other profession in the last frontier.
May 2016 Trends

   
April 2016 How Alaska's Industries Stack Up
Click to read April 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Alaska’s mix of industries has grown to look a bit more like the rest of the nation over time, but we’re still a long ways off. It’s also unlikely we’ll ever mimic the national economy.

In no other state do oil, tourism, fishing, and the federal government play such fundamental roles. And given the small size of our economy, its seasonality, our expansive geography, and our largely public land ownership and natural resource endowment, Alaskans will likely continue to hold a unique mix of jobs.
April 2016 Trends

   
March 2016 Alaska Apprenticeships
Click to read March 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Registered apprenticeships have become an increasingly popular option for Alaskans who want to advance their education, especially after high school. Nearly 9,000 people participated in a registered apprenticeship program between 2004 and 2014, and new registrations were over 50 percent higher in 2014 than in 2004.

A registered apprenticeship, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, usually consists of at least 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training plus classroom technical instruction. As apprentices gain experience, their wages increase.
March 2016 Trends

   
February 2016 Is Alaska in a Recession?
Click to read February 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Talk of Alaska being in a recession — or heading for one — has grown over the last year as oil prices have plunged. But what exactly is a recession, and what does it mean if we’re in one?

For states, there’s no accepted definition on of a recession, and coming up with one isn’t clear-cut. Nationally, the National Bureau of Economic Research — a private, nonprofit research group — and its Business Cycle Dating Committee are the recognized authority on identifying when the country entered a recession and when it ended. For example, the most recent national recession, often called the “Great Recession”.
February 2016 Trends

   
January 2016 Employment Forecast for 2016
Click to read January 2016 Alaska Economic Trends

Alaska’s economy faces significant headwinds in 2016, largely due to sustained low oil prices. The state is forecast to lose about 2,500 jobs in 2016, a 0.7 percent decline, after gaining 1,700 jobs in 2015.

This would be the first year of job losses since 2009, when Alaska felt the wake from the national recession. The state’s job growth rebounded quickly in 2010 and remained relatively strong through 2012, buoyed by the federal stimulus package, large capital budgets, and high oil prices. Growth slowed to a crawl in 2013, and employers added jobs at a yearly rate of half a percentage point or less between 2013 and 2015.
January 2016 Trends

   

 

Return to Top of Page