Research & Reports

Anchorage Employment Report: September 2021

Job numbers for the month of August show an increase of 5,900 jobs up from August of 2020. We are seeing job growth slow as we move further into summer and closer to the fall and winter seasons. Almost all sectors saw positive growth with the exception of oil & gas, manufacturing, Information, state education and other services.

The number of single-family homes sold year-to-date has increased by 12%. The average sale price so far in 2021 has risen by 11%. Single-family home listings decreased by 60% compared to the same period in 2020, suggesting that the housing market is falling deeper into a seller’s market. The top five companies posting jobs are Providence Health & Services, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Humana, Capital Glass Northern Windows and Alyeska Pipeline.

This month’s data reflects the changes to come as a result of COVID-19 recovery efforts in addition to a thawing national economy. Quarterly Census of Employment Wages (QCEW) data was just released and we are seeing a remarkable change in job counts for the first quarter of 2021. We saw an over count of some key industries like oil and gas and healthcare, but a major undercount in struggling areas like hospitality and retail. Overall we now understand that we are up 1,800 jobs for the first quarter of 2021 than we originally estimated based on State of Alaska Department of Labor data. We are excited to see these numbers and hope to see this trend continue as further data is released for Q2 and Q3.