HIGHLIGHTS: ALASKA’S NATURAL RESOURCE ENDOWMENT IS ITS STRENGTH, BUT A TRAINED WORKFORCE IS NEEDED AND STABLE GOVERNMENT POLICY. ALASKA HAS TO BE COMPETITIVE IN PROJECT DEVELOPMENT AND IN ATTRACTING SKILLED LABOR. MODERATOR: BOB LOEFFLER, Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) PANEL: n KATIE BERRY, President, McKinley Research Group n MARY KOPRIVA, ISER, University of Alaska Anchorage n DAN ROBINSON, State Labor Economist n ALLEN WALDROP, Director of Private Equity, Alaska Permanent Fund KEY POINTS: n Alaska a resource state, attracting investment n Oil and gas a major employer; 16% of all jobs n Workforce concern: Aging of population n Education, childcare important in worker retention DISCUSSION: Katie Berry, of McKinley Research, said oil and gas employs one in six Alaskans, or 16 percent of all workers, directly or indirectly through the spending of oil revenues for public services. A new factor in the state economy is the pace of retirements and fast growth of the senior population, which means fewer working-age adults. In 2005, there were 52,000 Alaskans 62 years or older; today the number is 133,000. Transfer payments (pensions, social security, dividends) brought $3 billion in the state’s economy in 2005; $8 billion in 2019 and $10.7 billion in 2022. Dan Robinson, director of the state’s Research and Analysis Division, said the increasing retirement of “baby boomers” (born 1946 to 1964) means a lot of people are aging out of the workforce. “There’s never been a better time to be a job applicant, but for employers, it’s tough,” he said. Alaska is seeing 0.4 applicant for every one job opening, he said. This is a national trend, but the effects seem exacerbated in Alaska. The state has a traditional pattern of seasonal in-migration and out-migration but the outmigration of working-age adults with families has continued for several years now, and economists don’t yet understand this, Robinson said. However, “if you’re an employer, things aren’t going to go back to the way they were anytime soon.” Mary Kopriva, at ISER, said health care costs and lack of, and cost, of childcare are major factors in problems of worker retention and difficulties in recruiting from out-of-state. Alaska has the highest per-capita health care cost in the nation at $13,000 yearly, up from $9,500 per capita in 2019. Through the 1990s Alaska per-capita costs were roughly the same as the nation’s but the gap appeared in about 2000 and has been widening since, and the trend seems likely to continue. The childcare problem is also national but is exacerbated in Alaska by a low pay and a shortage of childcare providers. The good news here, Kopriva said, is that there is a tremendous amount of effort now focused on childcare in Alaska. “The health care cost problem is complex and we’re not sure we understand all of its dimensions. However, there are greater opportunities in solving childcare, “if we can be creative,” she said. Dan Robinson said addressing childcare and health costs will help with worker retention and recruitment. “Is we want to do something soon (with our workforce) we should address these problems,” he said. However, ALASKA’S RESOURCES: LEADING OUR ECONOMY AND FUTURE INVESTMENT 16 ALASKA RESOURCE REVIEW WINTER 2024
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