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Job Forecast: Slight Growth Expected in Alaska in 2013 (KTUU-TV / January 4, 2013) |
The good news is that Alaska continues to add jobs, particularly in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley, but the job growth won’t compare to 2012.
The Department of Labor Anticipates 4,200 new jobs in 2013, that’s a growth of 1.2 percent. But that’s down from the 1.6 percent growth rate in 2012, when 5,300 jobs were added. Anchorage continues to see the largest growth with 1,800 of those jobs.
The key areas of job growth are expected to be in healthcare, construction, the oil and gas industry and retail trade.
The Department of labor said one reason why they’re not seeing a larger job growth is because they don’t know how much the federal government will contribute.
They said that a large piece of Alaska’s economy is dependent on the oil and gas industry and the federal government, which they say are both unpredictable.
“Those are the two biggest pieces that we’re really quite dependent on and right now they have pretty sizable question marks associated with them,” said Alyssa Shanks, Research Economist with the Department of Labor. “Those are defiantly two things we keep a close eye on so that we can see what’s coming,” Shanks said.
The Department of Labor said healthcare will see the largest jump in employment growth. That’s because of the aging population; more people need more health care services so the demand is high.
