
Brett Watson
27:15 - 28:01
"Just under $20 billion of federal spending in 2023. Let's compare that to the total size of the Alaskan economy in using gross domestic product as, as the denominator here. Alaska's gross domestic product in 2015 was $51 billion, and in 2023 that had grown to $68 billion. And so federal spending accounted for just under 30% of our 2023 total GDP."
“Just under $20 billion of federal spending in 2023. Let's compare that to the total size of the Alaskan economy in using gross domestic product as, as the denominator here. Alaska's gross domestic product in 2015 was $51 billion, and in 2023 that had grown to $68 billion. And so federal spending accounted for just under 30% of our 2023 total GDP.”
Just under $20 billion of federal spending in 2023. Let's compare that to the total size of the Alaskan economy in using gross domestic product as, as the denominator here. Alaska's gross domestic product in 2015 was $51 billion, and in 2023 that had grown to $68 billion. And so federal spending accounted for just under 30% of our 2023 total GDP. But as Bob laid out for you, what you really have to think about here is not, not just how federal spending is reflective of our overall GDP, but how it's reflective of that new money coming into the state, how large of an economic driver it is, is it, with respect to all that new money, new money that flows into the state.
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.
