A construction worker on top of Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop's building in Airport Heights on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2024. Employment in the city has grown about 2% annually since 2020, but it’s expected to slow to 1.5% in 2025. The report’s author, Samuel Tappen, found that despite an overall increase in the amount of jobs, there’s a few long-term trends hindering growth. “The big one is negative net migration.
We've now experienced negative net migration for 10 years, which is unprecedented,” Tappen said.Tappen said the last year Anchorage experienced population growth from people moving to the city was during the recession of 2008, which wassince World War II. The downturn caused labor disruptions in the Lower 48, though Alaska’s economy was less affected. The health care and educational and health services sectors are projected to add the most jobs in 2025, adding 800 each, jumping 3.7% and 2.9% respectively. Construction is also expected to see strong growth, adding 600 jobs, spiking 7.2%.Construction led job growth in Anchorage last year by 9.2%, the report said. Statewide, the sector paid 16% more in total wages from 2022 to 2023. Although the construction sector won’t add the most jobs in 2025, it’ll enable employment in other industries, according to the report.federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs ActA surge in local construction projects has created a tight labor market for the industry, and Tappen said about 14% of construction workers in Anchorage travel to the city from out of state. “We see this fluctuate a little bit as local labor conditions change, but this is something that Alaska has always relied on more than other states,” he said. Tappen said a portion of workers who come to Alaska for temporary work end up becoming residents. He said federal investments and a narrow labor market could drive up the nonresident hire rate, which could boost in-migratio