Alaska sees the largest seasonal employment swing of any state, according to new data from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The gap between the lowest and highest employment months is about 14% in the state, or a difference of 43,900 jobs. The next closest state is Montana at 6%.
State economist Dan Robinson said tourism, seafood processing and construction are especially seasonal industries, and that they bring thousands of workers to communities around the state.
“There's some big economic activity that occurs seasonally, that just really blows things up in the summer,” he said.
Alaska’s employment is far less seasonal than it used to be. In the 1970s, the difference between the highest and lowest months was over 40%, according to the report, more than twice the current level. That difference was largely tied to building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and a wave of oil-boom construction. The state’s seasonality has been relatively stable since the early 1990s.
Robinson said some of the state’s most rural areas see the biggest seasonal differences. For example, in the Bristol Bay Borough employment skyrockets in the summer months from just under 500 jobs to almost 4,000, according to the study. That’s an increase of over 667%.
“They're small enough to not have very big industries elsewhere, the support type industries,” Robinson said. “They're interesting and unusual for rural areas in the country because either fishing or tourism are massive draws.”
The Denali Borough and Skagway are also extremely seasonal, which the report attributes to tourism. Anchorage sees the smallest swings at 6%.
The report said that seasonal employment swings are also likely tied to Alaska having the largest gross migration rate – the number of people moving to and from the state each year. Between 1990 and 2018, Alaska’s gross migration rate was 12.8%.
Robinson said about 20% of workers don’t stay in the state long enough to claim residency.
“There are things that excite people to come here, both as a tourist and then to live here. The possibility of living here is kind of a big adventure, but we also have strong push factors,” Robinson said.
Those push factors, Robinson said, are a comparative lack of entertainment, and long winters.
