Alaska's fastest-growing services sector: this sector leads the way for growth in Alaska, and despite what many believe, not all services jobs are low-paying.

• Author: Bonham, Nicole A.
• Position: Manufacturing jobs

When campaigning politicos and disgruntled or displaced workers complain that traditional and well-paid manufacturing jobs are fast being replaced by servicebased work, they're correct in one fashion, but perhaps incorrect in another.

The services industry is growing-not only in Alaska, but also nationally and possibly globally. That much is true. But to say that the services sector is actually replacing manufacturingimplying a relationship of influence between the two--is not completely accurate, economists say. It's more a case that one industry sector is decreasing while another is growing, both events due largely to independent economic influences.

"... One is not replacing the other," says Alaska Labor Economist Neal Fried. "One would have come whether the other was there or not."

This argument gets particularly heated in areas like Southeast Alaska, where mainstay forestry and fishing jobs are waning, yet the market is increasingly flooded with hospitality and tourism opportunities-but typically at a much lower wage. People see a shift in the local economy from the traditional breadwinner jobs to the common face of the services industry--hospitality, food services--and make the mental leap.

But this is where the comparisons get muddy. What is perhaps not understood--or at least not intuitive--is the breadth and scope of the services industry and its related occupations. To say that services jobs constitute only the poorly paid and nonprofessional is erroneous. And while it's true that the traditional jobs of Alaska--those in natural resources, mining and manufacturing--also constituted the sources of the state's highest wages, one cannot dismiss the impact of the rich and diverse services industry and its positive influence on the economy.

MORE THAN BURGERS

Consider the Seattle and Northwest corridor as example-or even Colorado and its Front Range triad of Colorado Springs, Denver and Fort Collins. These are areas that, like Alaska, have seen a shift in economic makeup in recent years from traditional manufacturing and natural resource industry to a services based economy. "The one big difference that sort of gave the nation's service sector a different flavor, at least in the most recent decade ..., is a lot of dot.com boom and high-tech growth." Alaska has not seen that level of substantial technology growth.

However, long known for its timber and fish processing industries, the Northwest has nonetheless shifted to a technology...