
Brett Watson
28:55 - 29:35
"either way you calculate this contribution of the oil and gas industry, it's grown over this time period between $3 and $4.5 billion. Or less than half of the growth in federal spending over the same time period. What about for some of our other key basic sector industries like the hard rock mining industry or the fishing industry? Well, the fishing industry over this time period grew by about a quarter billion dollars while the hard rock mining industry grew by just under a billion dollars."
“either way you calculate this contribution of the oil and gas industry, it's grown over this time period between $3 and $4.5 billion. Or less than half of the growth in federal spending over the same time period. What about for some of our other key basic sector industries like the hard rock mining industry or the fishing industry? Well, the fishing industry over this time period grew by about a quarter billion dollars while the hard rock mining industry grew by just under a billion dollars.”
Um, but either way you calculate this contribution of the oil and gas industry, it's grown over this time period between $3 and $4.5 billion. Or less than half of the growth in federal spending over the same time period. What about for some of our other key basic sector industries like the hard rock mining industry or the fishing industry? Well, the fishing industry over this time period grew by about a quarter billion dollars while the hard rock mining industry grew by just under a billion dollars. And so I think that the last decade really represents a really significant change for the economy of the state of Alaska, where our growth over the last decade has been really importantly driven by federal government.
UAA economists say federal spending drove about half of Alaska's growth since 2015 — and the state is now losing federal workers faster than most, hitting rural areas hardest.
