JUNEAU — Southeast Alaska business owners are optimistic about the region’s business climate, according to a recently released regional survey.
She announced that this was the best business climate survey since 2017, with nearly two-thirds of regional business leaders expressing overall positive outlooks regarding the Southeast Alaska business climate, which is a dramatic increase from just one year ago. Another positive change was that businesses in small rural communities are currently most likely to report their regional economy as “very good.
Another positive result from the survey is that businesses are currently in the hiring phase, with more than a quarter of regional businesses looking to hire and expecting to add employees over the next year. “I moved to Kodiak in 1982 and when you got off the plane people said ‘Where are you going to live? Did you bring your tent?’ Housing is a challenge everywhere in Alaska, it’s particularly poignant because we’re in Juneau,” said Stevens. “If I moved to Juneau today, based on what the ‘taxman’ thinks my house is worth and my salary today, I couldn’t afford to buy the house that I live in.