State economist Dan Robinson says one of the main causes for Alaska’s worker shortage is the 'unusually large number' of Baby Boomers who retired early during the pandemic.
“Now Hiring” signs cover the door at a local grocery store in Anchorage. In May, about one in every nine jobs in Alaska was unfilled, according to the state’s latest labor data. That’s almost double the national rate.
“A disproportionate percentage, an unusually large number of those people, I think at the 50-, 60-plus age group, said, ‘We’re out, we’re done. We can afford it. Stock market’s been good. Housing market’s good. I can afford to retire now, and this pandemic thing makes work difficult,’” Robinson said.
“We had a lot of years where could just take the money from oil revenue and pay all of our bills,” he said. “And for 10 years — some people would say, 20-plus — we’ve struggled with, ‘Is it enough?’ Do we need to have taxes, do we need to make changes to the dividend?”
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