Brain-Drain And Low Paying Jobs Plagued Alaska Under Knowles Administration
Knowles Continues to Mislead Alaskans on His Economic Record
Anchorage, AK - While Tony Knowles touts his record of supposed economic growth in Alaska during his two terms as governor, he prominently ignores statistics that show large numbers of students leaving Alaska for the Outside and significant losses in vital Alaskan industries.
In January, the Anchorage Daily News reported on an Alaska Department of Labor study that said nearly two of every five Alaskans who were 15 to 19 years old in 1994 have left the state for jobs and opportunities Outside. Since 1998, those Alaskans have been leaving at a faster rate than the rest of the state's population, the Daily News reported. ("In Decade, 40 Percent of Youths Leave Alaska," AP, 1/8/04)
A centerpiece of Tony's campaign is his claim that 30,000 jobs were created during his administration. According to both the U.S. Department of Labor-Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development-Division of Research and Analysis, total employment in Alaska rose from an annual average of 280,100 in 1994 to 298,600 in 2002 for a net gain of 18,500 jobs - barely half of the 30,000 jobs claimed by Tony Knowles. (BLS- State and local Unemployment Rate Data, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development: Research and Analysis Section- Labor Force Statistics by Month for the State of Alaska 1990-present)
Between 1998 and 2001, Alaska's Gross State Product dropped by over 6% ($26.02 billion to $24.49 billion) a clear sign of recession but, looking at individual industries paints a more detailed picture of the economy under Knowles. It is evident that over the years of 1994-2002, Alaska's job growth was driven by low-skill, low-wage industries while traditionally high-wage resource-sector jobs experienced sustained contractions. Among the leading growth sectors were retail sales and hospitality - typically seasonal positions that do not give Alaska's children the opportunities to settle in Alaska and support future families. (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Percent Change in Real Gross State Product by Major Industry, 2000-2001)
In comparison, high-wage sectors such as air transportation and logging lost ground - logging alone lost more than 66% of its jobs. Meanwhile, under Knowles the government sector remained a leading industry, with 6,700 positions added between 1994 and 2002. (Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development: Research and Analysis Section- Current Employment Statistics for 1994 and 2002)
Knowles continues to mislead Alaskans regarding his economic record while conveniently avoiding the actual statistics that illustrate the state suffered unnecessarily and government grew during his tenure.