Alaska: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Alaska's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 3.4 percent of Alaska's total private-sector employment. Over one-fourth (25.9 percent) of all manufacturing workers in Alaska depend on exports for their jobs. (2005 data are the latest available.)

Note: Export-related employment data shown do not include manufacturing and non-manufacturing jobs involved in the export of non-manufactured goods, such as farm products, minerals, and services sold to foreign buyers. Indirect exports exclude imported items. The complete 2005 export-related employment series is available on our Export Related Jobs pages. Additional information on methodology used in the export-related employment series can be found in the U.S. Census Bureau's publication Exports from Manufacturing Establishments: 2003.

Source: State Export-Related Employment Project, International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census.

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Exports Sustain Hundreds of Alaska Businesses

A total of 310 companies exported from Alaska locations in 2006. Of those, 233 (75 percent) were small and medium-sized enterprises with fewer than 500 employees.

Small and medium-sized firms generated one-tenth (10 percent) of Alaska's total exports of merchandise in 2006.

Source: International Trade Administration and Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division: Exporter Database.

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Foreign Investment Creates Jobs in Alaska

In 2005, foreign-controlled companies employed approximately 12,100 Alaskan workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Alaska in 2005 included the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.

Nearly one-sixth of these jobs (15.7 percent, or 1,900 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2005.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 14.8 percent, one of every seven manufacturing workers, of total manufacturing employment in Alaska in 2005.

Foreign investment in Alaska was responsible for 5.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2005.

Note: All figures exclude employment in banks affiliated with foreign companies.

Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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Alaska Depends on World Markets

Alaska's export shipments of merchandise in 2007 totaled $3.9 billion, up 42 percent from 2003.

Alaska exported globally to 100 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market was Japan. Alaska posted merchandise exports of $855 million to Japan in 2007. Japan was followed by China ($716 million), South Korea ($703 million), Canada ($460 million), and Germany ($202 million).

The state's largest manufactured export category is primary metal manufactures, which accounted for $135 million of Alaska's total merchandise exports in 2007. Other top exports are petroleum and coal products (2007 exports of $133 million), chemical manufactures ($105 million), and processed foods ($42 million).

Source: Origin of Movement State Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.

Caution: The Origin of Movement series allocates exports to states based on transportation origin, i.e., the state from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a state should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement state export figures.

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Alaska's Metropolitan Exports

In 2006, the metropolitan area of Anchorage exported $370 million in merchandise, 16 percent of Alaska's total merchandise exports. The second largest metropolitan area exporter in Alaska was Fairbanks with $145 million in goods exports in 2006.

Source: Metropolitan Export Series, Bureau of the Census, Foreign Trade Division.

Caution: The Origin of Movement zip-based series allocates exports to metropolitan areas based on transportation origin, i.e., the metropolitan area from which goods began their journey to the port (or other point) of exit from the United States. The transportation origin of exports is not always the same as the location where the goods were produced. Consequently, conclusions about "export production" in a metropolitan area should not be made solely on the basis of the Origin of Movement zip-based export figures.

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