Government, Inc. Ranking Alaska's public sector employers.

• Author: Rhode, Scott

Government is not a business, but it is an employer. In Alaska, government is the largest employer. Monthly employment estimates kept by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 78,600 government workers at the end of 2022. By combining all local, state, and federal employees--even without education workers and uniformed military--the government industry sector dwarfs all others, more than healthcare and retail combined.

Of the 309,600 total jobs in Alaska in December 2022, government supplied more than one quarter of them. The 25.5 percent share is the highest of any state, just ahead of Wyoming, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Hawaii. Pennsylvania and Nevada get away with half as many government employees per capita.

Like the Yellow Pages, the Corporate 100 list excludes government agencies. Businesses and governments are fundamentally different: governments are stuck in a defined territory, and their "shareholders" comprise whoever happens to live there.

Governments and businesses are alike, however, in pursuing economic growth. Cities and states seek trade opportunities and try to attract residents and companies to expand the tax base. "They market based on their location, to some extent," says Nils Andreassen, executive director of the Alaska Municipal League. "They each have different tools to attract business, but they're in the attraction development mode."

Public sector workers also do many of the same jobs as in the private sector, from doctors, lawyers, accountants, and administrators to heavy equipment operators, customer service representatives, and even grocery clerks. So how do the employers in Alaska's largest industry sector stack up against the private employers in the Corporate 100?

Compiling the Data

The monthly employment estimate divides the government sector into 41,800 local workers, 21,900 state, and 14,900 federal. A big asterisk notes the exclusion of uniformed military: the Alaskan Command website puts that figure at more than 22,000 across all branches. Right away, the answer to the top employer in Alaska is--to perhaps nobody's surprise--the United States of America with 36,900. The State of Alaska clearly ranks second, with a larger payroll than the top five in the Corporate 100 combined.

For more exciting answers, consider the Corporate 100 rule that allows subsidiaries to be listed, provided their parent companies don't double count them...