Alaskanomics

Anchorage Municipal Elections April 1

Anchorage voters do not forget that April 1 is Election Day. Each Assembly District has a seat up for election. Midtown Anchorage is the only seat going uncontested. The other districts each have two to three candidates. All voters will vote on two School Board seats. There are also seats on the Service Area and Limited Road Service Area Board of Supervisors up for election.

Beyond the offices to be filled on Tuesday, there are also 9 propositions on the ballot for voters to consider.

• Proposition 1- Educational capital improvements, planning and design projects and districtwide building life extension project bonds
• Proposition 2- Area wide safety and public transportation capital improvement bonds
• Proposition 3- Area wide facilities capital improvement project bonds
• Proposition 4- Anchorage Parks and Recreation service area capital improvement bonds
• Proposition 5- Anchorage roads and drainage service area road and storm drainage bonds
• Proposition 6- Anchorage fire service area fire protection bonds
• Proposition 7- Anchorage metropolitan police service area facilities bonds
• Proposition 8- Municipal charter amendment regarding gender-specific terminology
• Proposition 9- Municipal charter amendment regarding vehicle violation enforcement

For more information about tomorrow’s Municipal election, please visit http://www.muni.org/departments/assembly/clerk/elections/pages/default.aspx

If you are not a resident of the Municipality and/or are not registered to vote, there is still time to register for the statewide August primary. The deadline to register is July 20. Visit www.elections.alaska.gov for more information.

Anchorage is the 23rd Most Expensive City in the US

Last week, the Anchorage Economic Development Council (AEDC) released its first Cost of Living Report for Anchorage.  The report is based on the findings from the national Cost of Living Index (COLI) survey, which was developed by the Council for Community and Economic Research. Each participant's index is a percentage of the average for all prices. The index does not measure that change of prices over time, but rather the relative cost of living compared to the national average. The survey measures prices of goods and services in 306 cities throughout all 50 states. There are six categories for the survey: housing, health care, miscellaneous goods and services, grocery, transportation and utilities. In 2013, Anchorage ranked as the 23^rd most expensive city in the US. The cost of living in Anchorage was 126.2 percent of the national average.

2013 was the 2^nd lowest reading on the past five years for Anchorage. There was a 3.4 point decrease from 2012 in the overall composite, and four of the six indices decreased in 2013. The two that rose shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone, housing and healthcare. Anchorage ranks fourth in the nation for the cost of healthcare. The only three cities in the nation with higher costs are Fairbanks, Juneau and Kodiak.  Illustrating, Alaska has the highest healthcare costs in the US. The cost for housing in Anchorage kept rising as well. Anchorage ranks 20^th in the nation in relation to the cost of housing. We are ahead of Chicago, Portland, Seattle and Philadelphia in housing costs. As we have noted in previous posts, it is alarming that Anchorage has a higher cost of housing than large, densely populated areas. The average sales price for a home in Anchorage in 2013 was nearly $347,000, up 2.9 percent from 2012 and 7.8 higher than 2011.

The four other factors decreased between 2012 and 2013, and the only index that was below the national average was utilities. The average cost of utilities sat just below the national average at 99. Even though Anchorage’s cost for natural gas was 126.4 percent of the national average, electrical was only 77 percent of the average. Grocery saw a large decrease, going from 129.1 to 113 between 2012 and 2013. In a recent Anchorage Daily News Article, AEDC CEO Bill Popp, noted that he felt the decrease was due competition in the grocery business. Several new Wal-Mart superstores, Sam’s Club and the remodel and expansion of existing groceries have resulted in more local competition and reduced the cost of groceries for Anchorage residents.

Popp feels that it is possible to lower Anchorage’s cost of living by encouraging new businesses to come to Alaska and aggressively growing existing businesses. This will lead to more competition and will lower prices for many goods and services. He is also careful to note that it will take the efforts of not only policy makers, but the entire community. If the city decides to make the cost of living a priority, solutions to the rising costs can be found and implemented for Anchorage.

To read the full report, visit http://aedcweb.com/phocadownload/2013%20coli%20report%20final.pdf

February Unemployment Numbers Released

Alaska unemployment continues to sit 2 tenths of a percent below the national average. For February, Alaska’s unemployment rate was 6.5 percent, one tenth higher than January, but equal to February 2013. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development noted that unemployment typically peaks during February in their monthly unemployment release.

As we saw in January, many boroughs and census areas had an increase in unemployment, but the few exceptions were areas known for late winter fishing. February saw a decrease in unemployment in Haines, Petersburg, Kodiak Island and Aleutians East boroughs and the Aleutians West and Dillingham census areas. The other 23 areas in Alaska had an increase in unemployment this past month. The highest and lowest rates are still in the Hoonah-Angoon Census area and the North Slope Borough, respectively.  Both saw slight increases from their January rates.

We will continue to monitor the stabilization of the Alaska unemployment rate versus the falling national average. As noted last week, the Alaska rate and national average are the closest that they have been since November 2008.

For detailed employment estimates, visit http://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/ces/.

January Unemployment at 6.4 percent in Alaska

The Alaska unemployment rate has stabilized while the national average continues to fall. The Department of Labor and Workforce Development released its unemployment numbers for January as well as the revised 2013 numbers today. Alaska remained at 6.4 percent for the month of January, unchanged from December 2013. The national averaged dropped a tenth of a percent to 6.6 percent for January.

Alaska unemployment and the national rate are the closest they have been in the past five years. The national average passed the Alaska rate in late 2008 in the midst of the recession. Alaska unemployment numbers are close to the pre-recession rate while the national rate remains above the pre-recession level. In the past twelve months, the Alaska unemployment rate has dropped only one tenth of one percent, while the national average has gone down 1.3 percent.

The not-seasonally adjusted rates increased in all but three census areas and boroughs between December and January. This is typical for the time of year. Kodiak Island, Aleutians East and Aleutians West saw lower rates due to the opening of winter groundfish and shellfish fisheries. Hoonah-Angoon Census area continues to see a high rate of unemployment and had the highest rate in January with 26.1 percent. The North Slope Borough had the lowest rate with 4.3 percent for first month of 2014.

For detailed employment estimates, visit http://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/ces/