Auto headlights and the setting sun create a colorful scene as workers head home during the evening rush hour in Anchorage on Jan. 26, 2023. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
As Alaskans from different organizations convened at the University of Alaska Anchorage to brainstorm ways to reverse the state’s continuing population outmigration, a leading state economist delivered some bad news.
Dan Robinson, research chief at the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, revealed that the latest data shows that Alaska has now had 12 consecutive years with more residents leaving than arriving.
That is unprecedented, he said.
“This is not normal for us. It hasn’t happened before,” Robinson said on Thursday at the start of the two-day meeting.
The longest prior streak was four years, he said.
Robinson spoke at a meeting organized by Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, the Alaska Federation of Natives and the First Alaskans Institute
Behind the outmigration statistics are specific patterns, he said.