A Spotlight On Youth Working In Alaska And The Cost Of Living

May 30, 2003
No. 03-18

The June issue of Alaska Economic Trends profiles two major topics-youth employment in Alaska and the cost of living.

The youth article identifies the employment characteristics of young workers, lists their major employers, and discusses some of the skills employers seek. A full 43 percent of the 14 to 17 year olds in Alaska were employed sometime during calendar year 2001 while more than 89 percent of the 18 to 21 year olds worked in at least one quarter. Legal restrictions on the types and hours of employment for 14 to 17 year old workers limit their employment.

According to article authors Lorraine Cordova and Jeff Hadland, there were 18,864 workers in the 14 to 17 year old age group, and they earned more than $50 million in calendar year 2001. Safeway was the major employer of the 14 to 17 year olds with McDonald's and K-Mart following behind. Workers in the 18 to 21 year old group were more likely to be employed all four quarters of the year while the 14 to 17 year olds were more likely to work one or two quarters.

Also in this issue, labor economists Neal Fried and Dan Robinson explored the many cost-of-living issues in Alaska. Myths abound surrounding the subject of cost of living, some of them probably dating back to the gold rush days. Although it is true that living in Alaska costs more than living in most other states, the gap has narrowed substantially over the past 20 years. According to the Runzheimer index, Fairbanks and Anchorage's cost of living were 9 and 7 percent higher than the national average and Juneau was 21 percent higher. Among the different categories, taxes were the one area in which Alaska came out ahead of the rest of the nation. Among Alaska locations they found the least affordable housing was in Bethel, where it requires 2.8 wage earners to buy an "average" house. The most affordable housing market was for those Anchorage wage earners buying housing in the Mat-Su Valley. It took 1.1 of these wage earners to afford the "average" home. This goes a long way to explaining why a growing share of Southcentral residents choose to reside in the Mat-Su Valley. Many other cost-of- living issues are explored.

In addition to these two articles there is also a profile of the hazardous materials removal worker occupation and the customary Alaska Economic Trends article on Alaska's employment scene.

For the complete issue you can visit the Department of Labor and Workforce Development web site

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