Tourism

Employment is up, wages are up, and the private sector is growing. That’s according to the Juneau Economic Development Council’s latest economic indicators report, which paints a positive financial picture for the Capital City and the rest of Southeast Alaska.

Eva Bornstein, JEDC’s lead researcher on the report, peppered her presentation to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce Thursday with a series of pop quiz-style questions.

“Mining jobs pay the highest average wages in Juneau, which sector has the second highest average wages?” she asked.

The answer: The federal government.

While the Capital City’s economy continues to be heavily dependent on government jobs, Bornstein says the private sector is slowly taking on a bigger role. Last year, employment in Juneau was up 1.5 percent from 2011 with a total of more than 18,000 jobs. That’s despite local and federal government cuts, and essentially flat state employment.

“The private sector did a great job in jobs growth and has done so for three consecutive years,” Bornstein said. “We’ve been on an upswing. In 2012, three percent gain in jobs.”

Mining topped the list for job growth in all sectors, adding 171 jobs last year. Overall, the retail, health care, and tourism sectors are the top three private employers in Juneau.

Most areas of the economy saw wages grow in 2012, but once again mining led the way.

“Six-point-six percent increase in average wages in the past year. Professional and business services were second, also above six percent in gains,” she said. “Local government, state government were also above five percent.”

The median household income in the Capital City from 2009 to 2011 was more than $77,500. That’s about $10,000 higher than the rest of the state, and $26,000 higher than the median household income nationally.

Bornstein says that helps make up for the cost of living in Juneau, which is 30 percent higher than the national average.

“The highest costs are in our housing, our utilities and our health care,” she said.

Juneau’s population hit another all-time high last year, growing by more than 400 people to 32,832. And for the second year in a row, the city’s population got slightly younger. The median age of residents declined from 38 years old in 2011 to 37.8 in 2012.

Bornstein says most of the population growth has come from people moving to Juneau, which has strained the city’s already tight housing market. But relief may be coming soon. She says there were 71 new housing units permitted in 2012, and so far this year there have been more than 120.

“New housing units permitted, 2012 looked good, it was up,” Bornstein said. “But 2013 is looking spectacular.”

JEDC Executive Director Brian Holst says the annual economic indicators report fulfills the agency’s mission to help local business and government leaders make better, more informed decisions. He called the economic trends in the last year “very, very positive.”

“Employment is up in our region, all wages are up, our private sector is growing faster than our public sector, which in general is positive for our community,” Holst said. “The population is at an all-time high both in Juneau and in the region, and generally our industries are stable.”

The Chamber of Commerce crowd largely agreed with Holst.

Maryann Ray owns Pearson’s Pond, a luxury, boutique hotel in the Mendenhall Valley. She says business is back to where it was before bottoming out during the recession, and she only expects it to get better.

“This year we had the best July we’ve had since I purchased the inn, and people are starting to spend more on excursions,” Ray said. “I think the tourism industry is a trailing indicator of what’s going on. So, if we see things have gotten better this year overall, I think we’ll see tourism certainly improve next year as well.”

The economic indicators report is JEDC’s major annual publication. The entire report as well as past years’ economic indicators can be found at www.jedc.org.

The U.S. Forest Service employs about 400 people in Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and most of them are on furlough, awaiting a call from the federal government that they’ll soon be back to work.

The telephone message at Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center is similar at offices throughout the Tongass:

“We are not in the office at this time.  We are on furlough without out access to email due to the lapse in federal government funding.”

But the forest isn’t closed.  There are no gates across the hundreds of trails and miles of roads.

“I’ve had a number of questions in the last 24 hours about guides and special use permits for outfitter and guiding, and for the most part they’re still active, says Tongass supervisor Forrest Cole.  “We haven’t shut down any of that.”

Folks with current reservations are also welcome to use Forest Service cabins, but new reservations can’t be made because the reservation system is shut down, Cole says.

“They might need to bring their own toilet paper,” says Juneau District Ranger Marti Marshall. “They can use the outhouses, we’re just not servicing them.”

The Forest Service also is not collecting garbage.

“And that is a pack it in, pack it out message” she says. 

Marshall is one of 10 Tongass district rangers working during the shutdown. They’re called “excepted” employees.

“Maybe the most frustrating for all of us is we’re only to work on the excepted activities, law enforcement and activities that protect health and safety. I’d love to be catching up on my pile of work on my desk, but no,” she says.

As for the number of Tongass employees laid off due to the partial government shutdown, Cole says “it’d be easier to tell you how many people are on.”

In addition to the rangers, the list includes law enforcement officers. Like those in the Juneau district, most have a wide geographic territory to cover.  They’re not always able to check the Forest Service buildings,  or for example, Ketchikan’s fleet of boats.  So that falls to the rangers.

“They’ve got to run them every so often or the batteries go dead and they fill up with water and sink,” Cole says.

He says the aviation program manager and a fire coordinator are working as well as a few employees responsible for shutting down projects, including about 25 active timber operations, the largest on Lindenberg Pensinsula and Zarembo Island.

“We’ve given them time to do an orderly shutdown; erosion control work,  get volume that’s in the water out, and get it scaled,” he says.  Normally the the timber crews would work until snow falls.   

 Most of those laid off from logging projects are not federal employees.  But some others from the private sector are still working on road construction crews on Prince of Wales Island. Cole says projects allowed to continue depend on a variety of factors, and that decision is made case-by-case.

In the Juneau Ranger District, the snow is coming down the mountains above Mendenhall Glacier.  But with the hurried shutdown, a crew remains on call to complete a trail project, or pull out equipment when the snow flies at lower elevations.

The project is called “the Aztec stairs of torture up West Glacier Trail,” Marshall says, laughing.

With so few boots on the ground in the Tongass,  Marshall says the Forest Service is counting on its communities to help during the government shutdown.

“Since we aren’t out there, we want people to be our eyes and ears. If they see something suspicious or damage occurring, please call Juneau Police Department or our law enforcement officers,” or police in other Tongass towns.

It’s fortunate the Southeast Alaska tourist season ended just before the federal shutdown and the forest is winding down for winter.

 “Thank goodness  we’re not in the desert southwest or back east, where it’s fall color time, when it would be their busy time of year,” Marshall says.

Both Marshall and Cole worked for the Forest Service during the last government shutdown in 1995 and understand the anxiety some employees are feeling.

“Everyday people were wanting to know if they were going to go back to work or not,” Cole recalls. “It finally worked itself out.” 

Marshall says “it’s just difficult to listen to the news.  And I hope we don’t come back to a mess.”

Marshall says  if people see vandalism or other damage to Juneau District Ranger property, or anything  out of the ordinary, they can call her 789-6244.

Leaders of Alaska’s visitors’ industry will gather in Sitka Oct. 7-10.

More than 400 excursion operators, tourism managers and cruise officials are expected to attend the Alaska Travel Industry Association’s conference.

Sarah Leonard is president of the ATIA.

“It’s the annual time where our industry partners and managers gather to learn about trends and projections and network and get excited for the next season,” she says.

The conference offers business, marketing and public relations sessions for those in the industry.

International tourism consultant Lenwood Sloan is a keynote speaker. Leonard says he will address what’s called heritage tourism.

“He’s going to be talking about how communities can weave those characteristics into their destination and help highlight their destinations around cultural tourism,” she says.

Click here for the tourism conference agenda.

Leonard says Alaska’s visitors’ industry is slowly growing, bringing about 1.8 million people to the state. Close to one million tourists cruise the coast, while others arrive by plane, car or RV.

The travel industry association does not have numbers for this year yet. But she says tour operators have told her it was a good summer.

Leonard is optimistic about the 2014 season.

“We see, hopefully, increases in international visitation through some new services like the state’s partnership with Iceland Air and bringing that new air service to Alaska. So we’re very excited about that,” she says.

She says government and private advertising campaigns are increasing interest in the state. She says Alaska “reality” TV shows are also helping spread the word.