The number of out-of-state workers in Alaska is continuing to rise and is near an all-time high, according to a report published last week by the Alaska Department of Labor.
In 2024, almost 23% of non-federal jobs in Alaska were held by someone who did not live in the state. Nonresidents earned roughly $3.8 billion, or about 17% of every dollar earned from a non-federal job.
In some industries, the proportion of nonresident workers was much higher: In 2024, more than four in five seafood processing workers were nonresidents. Among oil and gas workers, 40.5% were nonresidents. Among miners, nonresidents made up 44.2% of all workers.
The seafood processing industry relies heavily on workers from out of state to staff up processing plants during the busy seasons.
Many workers in the oil and gas and mining industry live out of state and commute to Alaska for two-week shifts.
The state has been collecting nonresident worker data since 1990, and the new figures are the second-highest on record, behind only 1992, which used a different job classification system. That year, 23.7% of Alaska workers were nonresidents.
The proportion of nonresident workers has been rising steadily since the COVID-19 pandemic emergency layoffs of 2020.
Rob Krieger, an economist with the Department of Labor, wrote about the new report in an article for this month’s Alaska Trends magazine.
He noted that the rise comes amid a decline in the number of Alaskans who are between 18 and 64 years old, what economists call “prime working age.”
From 2013 to 2024, the number of Alaskans in that age range declined by about 34,000 people, or 7%.
Over the past 13 years, more people have moved out of the state than have moved in, and the state’s average age has risen steadily, leading to more deaths and fewer births — and a worker shortage.
“It’s pretty clear that is kind of what’s contributing to what we’re seeing with employers having to rely heavily on nonresidents,” he said.
“Every industry now is starting to lean more heavily on nonresidents, including ones that have historically not. Even things like state government and local government, we’re starting to see more nonresidents,” Krieger said.
In most industries, nonresidents earned less than residents did because nonresidents tended to hold seasonal jobs, such as tourism or seafood processing.
Gunnar Schultz, a Department of Labor analyst who compiled this year’s report, said the numbers are based on unemployment insurance reports filed by employers with the state. Alaska requires employers and employees to pay into the state’s unemployment insurance fund.
Those numbers are then contrasted with Permanent Fund dividend applications. Workers counted as nonresidents in 2024 for the report did not apply for the 2024 or 2025 PFD, indicating they were either nonresidents or had just moved to Alaska and not lived here long enough to qualify for the annual dividend.
Alaska had almost 15,500 federal workers in 2024; those aren’t included in the report, nor are members of the military and self-employed Alaskans. That last category includes many commercial fishermen — a separate category from seafood processing jobs.
The report separately analyzed commercial fishermen numbers, and based on permit data and other information, “nonresidents were an estimated 49% of the harvesting workforce, which includes permit holders and their crew, and nonresidents took in 57% of gross harvesting earnings.”
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