Looking Forward to Construction Season.

• Position: CONSTRUCTION

Alaska has two seasons, the saying goes: winter and construction. This issue of Alaska Business comes out when winter has not yet relaxed its dismal grip, but we're already thinking about construction. Following February's special section about architecture and engineering, the topic is a natural fit.

Construction trades span everything from kitchen remodelers and roofers to the hive-mind of crews in the industry's two major tribes, vertical and horizontal construction. Carpenters and ironworkers build on top of the landscape, while graders and pavers mold the landscape itself. And let's not forget the project managers who must choreograph the dance of materials, equipment, and labor on a wobbly stage of weather, money, and politics.

The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development counted 14,700 jobs in the construction sector, as of the end of 2021, hardly changed compared to the last months before COVID-19 arrived. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) put the figure at 17,670 in May 2020, but the agencies use different categories and data collection methods. (For example, is a state snowplow driver a government employee or a 47-4051 Highway Maintenance Worker?) The most common construction occupation, according to BLS, is operating engineer, with 2,680 counted in Alaska. Laborers come in at 2,610; carpenters at 2,010, first-line supervisors at 1,710, electricians at 1,500, and there were 1,130 plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters. Supervisors unsurprisingly have the highest average wage, at $88,420...