Alaska: Exports, Jobs, and Foreign Investment

Exports Support Jobs for Alaska's Workers

Export-supported jobs linked to manufacturing account for an estimated 1.7 percent of Alaska's total private-sector employment. 7.3 percent of all manufacturing workers in Alaska depend on exports for their jobs. (2006 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 2006 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: 2006.

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 2006, foreign-controlled companies employed approximately 12,200 Alaskan workers. Major sources of foreign investment in Alaska in 2006 included the United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.

One-fifth of these jobs (20 percent, or 2,400 workers) were in the manufacturing sector in 2006.

Foreign-controlled companies accounted for 17.7 percent, more than one of every six manufacturing workers, of total manufacturing employment in Alaska in 2006.

Foreign investment in Alaska was responsible for 5.1 percent of the state's total private-industry employment in 2006.

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 $4.0 billion, up 46 percent from 2003.

Alaska exported globally to 100 foreign destinations in 2007. The state's largest market was Japan. Alaska posted merchandise exports of $883 million to Japan in 2007. Japan was followed by China ($716 million), South Korea ($703 million), Canada ($548 million), and Germany ($202 million).

The state's largest manufactured export category is petroleum and coal products, which accounted for $144 million of Alaska's total merchandise exports in 2007. Other top manufactured exports are primary metal manufactures (2007 exports of $135 million), chemical manufactures ($105 million), and transportation equipment ($44 million).

Source: Revised 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 the first half of 2007, the metropolitan area of Anchorage exported $32 million in merchandise, 5 percent of Alaska's total merchandise exports. The metropolitan area of Fairbanks is likely also a major metropolitan exporter for Alaska in the first half of 2007; however an export value total is not available due to federal disclosure regulations.

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

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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