Career Exploration

Health Care Jobs in Alaska

Introduction

The health care industry provides many jobs in Alaska and is one of the state’s fastest growing industries. Below you will find some highlights that describe some of the trends in this field. This information is from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Research and Analysis Section. For more detailed information on the current status and future forecasts of health care jobs in Alaska, be sure to visit their web site: http://almis.labor.state.ak.us/ for occupational information, industry forecasts, Alaska Economic Trends magazines and much more!

An Overview

According to Neal Fried of the March 2010 issue of the Alaska Department Labor’s Alaska Economic Trend magazine:

No Alaska industry has grown as much as health care, one of the state’s largest industries….It had at least 30,000 jobs in 2008 and its payroll was more than $1.4 billion. Health care employs more people in Alaska than the state government, oil industry or most other industries. And few industries are as geographically widespread and employ such a broad spectrum of occupations. (p. 4)

Alaska’s health care jobs are everywhere. Slightly more than half of the industry’s employment is in Anchorage, but nearly every corner of the state has a health care work force…. In fact, health care is often a community’s largest or second-largest employer. (p. 4)

More remarkable than its size, though, is the pace at which it grows and grows. Alaska’s health care employment increased from 20, 700 in 2000 to 30,300 in 2009… growing more than three times as fast as all other industries… (p. 4)

Where Alaska’s Health Care Jobs Are

Fried(2010) notes that:

When it comes to the heavy weights in health care employment, hospitals do a lot of the heavy lifting. In 2009, like in many years, hospitals were responsible for the biggest slice of the state’s health care employment…..Like the industry as a whole, hospitals are such big employers because they’re labor-intensive. They provide around-the-clock care; three shifts of workers cycle through hospitals each day. (p. 7)

Combined, about a third of all the state’s health care jobs are in the offices of physicians, dentists, and other health practitioners. (p. 8)

Both home health care, and nursing and residential care employment have grown faster than average….Because Alaska’s older population is growing rapidly, home health, and nursing residential care will likely grow faster in the future and absorb a growing slice of the health care services-particularly home health care. (p.9)

Alaska Department of Labor’s 10-Year Industry Forecast: 2008-2018

According to Kelsey Kost and Todd Mosher of the September 2010 issue of the Alaska Department Labor’s Alaska Economic Trend magazine:

Alaska’s elderly population is expected to grow by at least 50 percent over the forecast period, significantly boosting the demand for health care workers. In terms of percentage growth, the two health care related occupational categories are far above any other category. The healthcare practitioners and technical occupations category is expected to increase by 3,402 jobs or 25.1percent, and the healthcare support category is expected to grow by 2,455 jobs or 29.1 percent….This adds up to 5,857new jobs – about 17 percent of the state’s total projected gains.

At a more detailed level, 17 of Alaska’s 20 fastest growing occupations are healthcare related…. The occupations most directly impacted by an aging population are projected to have the highest percentage growth. They include home health aides, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and personal and home care aides. (p. 10)

Below you will find a list of the fastest growing health care occupations found in the September 2010 Alaska Economic Trends magazine:

Percent Fastest Growing Occupations
47.3% Home Health Aides
37.1% Pharmacists
35.7% Pharmacy Technicians
35.5% Personal and Home Care Aides
33.6% Respiratory Therapists
29.8% Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
29.2% Medical Assistants
28.0% Surgical Technologists
27.2% Registered Nurses
27.0% Physician Assistants
26.4% Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics
25.0% Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technicians
25.0% Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologists
25.0% Financial Examiners
24.9% Physical Therapists
24.6% Opticians, Dispensing
24.2% Personal Financial Advisors
24.0% Self Enrichment Education Teachers
23.9% Physicians and Surgeons
23.8% Medical Records and Health Information Technicians

Note: The list considers occupations with at least 50 workers. Residual occupations ending with “All Other” and a small number of occupations with incomplete or unreliable data are excluded.
Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Research and Analysis Section

Notes: All of the above information on this page is taken from the March 2010 and September 2010 issues of the Alaska Department of Labor’s Workforce Development Alaska Economic Trend’s magazines. For full reprints, go to http://labor.alaska.gov/trends