Alaska Economy Faring Better Than National Economy

According to Neal Fried, an economist for the State Department of Labor, the uncertainty felt throughout America does not line up with Alaska’s business.

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By Heather VacLav

Story Created: Aug 19, 2011 at 11:11 AM AKDT

Story Updated: Aug 19, 2011 at 11:11 AM AKDT

In the past month, Wall Street has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride. Thursday was no different when the DOW Jones Industrial Average closed at 10, 991, dropping 419 points.

Despite the downfall, state economists believe Alaskans shouldn’t be worried, but it doesn’t mean that people won’t be concerned.

Like stirring up a can of paint, the stock market has been shaky. Up and down, the DOW has been rapidly gaining and losing hundreds of points every day.

According to Neal Fried, an economist for the State Department of Labor, the uncertainty felt throughout America does not line up with Alaska’s business.

“Right now more people are employed in Alaska than we've ever had, so our economy is in a very different place than most of the rest of the economy,” Fried said.

Even though the numbers put the 49th state in the green, the nation’s state of panic seems to be rubbing off and making Alaskans think the state is in the red.
“I very often hear local people saying, ‘well it’s because of the economy’ and I'm thinking, ‘but the economy here is not the same as the economy in Oregon, Washington or California,’” Fried said.

So now, Alaskans are joining Americans all across the country trying to save a few bucks, even if that means shopping at a local hardware store versus paying a professional to do it for you.

Making their way down the aisles, many customers are trying to literally cut their own corners, applying the “do-it-yourself” attitude to their home improvements.

“The people are trying to learn on their own because it’s costing so much...everything is overrated,” said Anchorage resident Antonio Montes.

For 18 years, Ace Hardware employee George Sides has watched people come in and out of the store. But despite the downturn in the U.S. economy, he said the hands-on approach isn’t a changing trend at his store.

“It’s always been pretty steady on fixing things up. If you own a home or rental units you're working on them continually until you sell them,” Sides said.

Moving forward, as national news stories build tension in the lower-48, for now, Alaskans can feel a sense of comfort in knowing the Last Frontier’s story is different.

Currently, Alaska’s unemployment rate is at 7.5 percent—that’s about two points below the country’s average at 9.2 percent.

Those numbers may be changing, too. New unemployment reports are released Friday.

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jjj said on Friday, Aug 19 at 4:41 PM

The PONZI sceme is coming to an end!!!!!

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