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Editor's note: Every year, the Juneau Economic Development Council (JEDC) prepares an economic indicators report for Juneau and all of Southeast Alaska. What follows is the executive summary of the report. To read more, visit http://jedc.org. This year's report was produced by JEDC Program Officer Meilani Schijvens.

Compared to a year prior, 2010 was a good year for Alaska's capital city. While 2009 was a difficult year for Juneau and the nation, Juneau's 2010 indicators are mostly positive, with the exception of cruise ship passenger arrivals, which was down 14 percent. However, the gains made in 2010 were not sufficient to offset 2009's losses.

Employment and Wages

Employment and payroll were both up in 2010

In 2010, annual average employment in Juneau grew by 2.3 percent, not quite erasing last year's loss of 3.5 percent. A summary of the most significant changes is below:

Government Jobs

For the first time since 2003, there was no loss of state or federal jobs. In 2010 state jobs grew by 55 (annual average employment) and federal jobs grew by eight. Local government and tribal government jobs also grew by 89 jobs (64 of which were in health care).

Unemployment

Juneau's average 2010 unemployment rate was 5.8 percent, significantly lower than the state and national averages for that same year of 8 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively.

Demographics

The populations of both Juneau and Southeast were up in 2010

In 2010 the population of Juneau increased by 1.1 percent (329 people) to 31,275. The population of the region also increased by 0.7 percent (523 people) to 71,664. However, the non-Juneau Southeast population was 4.7 percent below its 2000 population levels (73,082). Between 2000 and 2010, 25 of the regions communities lost population.

Regional population losses predicted

According to the Alaska Department of Labor (ADOL), Southeast is on track to have a population of 59,472 by 2034 if future trends mimic past trends. As the Juneau population is expected to remain flat during this time period, this would represent a 28 percent population drop in the non-Juneau Southeast areas compared to 2010 levels.

Juneau has a growing senior population

Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Juneau residents in their sixties nearly doubled (an increase of 1,419 residents in their 60s). According to the ADOL, by the year 2024, nearly one out of five Juneau residents will be seniors (aged 65 and older), up from one out of twenty in 1990. Juneau's shifting demographics require a rethinking of Juneau housing, transportation, and tax structure.

The only age group under 50 to grow in the last decade was 20-somethings. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of Juneau residents aged 20-29 grew by 17 percent (627 people).

Juneau's Alaska Native pop. increased

In 2010, 19.2 percent of Juneau's residents identified themselves as Alaska Native (or American Indian), up from 16.5 percent in the 2000 US Census (+938). Alaska Natives comprise 19 percent of the State population, and 22 percent of the Southeast population.

Juneau is Alaska's healthiest community

Juneau ranked first among Alaska communities for positive health factors in 2010. In addition to ranking first overall, Juneau also ranked first in the following categories: health behavior, clinical care, and social & economic factors.

Juneau men earn more than Juneau women

Nationally, men earned 29 percent more than their female counterparts between 2007 and 2009. Statewide, men earned 37 percent more for full-time, year-round employment. In Juneau, men earned 42 percent more than women.

Enrollment in grade school and University increased

In the 2010-2011 school year, the number of K-12 students enrolled in the Juneau School District increased for the second year in a row (albeit slightly). On October 1, 2010, 4,968 students were enrolled in Juneau schools, a 0.3 percent (15 student) increase from the previous year. While grade school and high school student populations were still down incrementally, middle school enrollment was up by 3.2 percent, or 34 students, from the October 2009 count.

In the fall of 2010, 2,898 students attended the University of Alaska Southeast at its Juneau campus. This represents an increase of three percent from fall 2009.

Cost of Living

It costs 39 percent more to live in Juneau than the average U.S. city

Based on 2011 data collected by JEDC and provided to the Council for Community and Economic Research, combined Juneau living costs are 39 percent more expensive than the average U.S. city. Juneau housing costs are 66 percent more expensive.

Despite dropping prices nationally, Juneau housing prices are up

As of the first half of 2011, Juneau is back to the peak housing prices of 2007. The average price of a single-family residence in the first half of 2011 was $321,391 - a three percent increase over the first half of 2010 and similar to the 2007 average cost of $322,779. Nationally in the first half of 2011, housing prices fell by seven percent.

Housing vacancy rates are incredibly low, 360 more units are needed

Juneau's housing vacancy rates are considerably lower than the region, state and nation. A five percent vacancy rate is considered to reflect a balanced and healthy market. In 2010, Juneau's homeowner vacancy rate was 1.4 percent (down from 2.5 percent in 2008). In 2010 and 2011, rental vacancy rates for one, three & four bedroom single-family homes ranged from zero to 1.9 percent; two and three-bedroom apartments had vacancy rates that ranged between 2.8 percent and 3.1 percent.

In order to obtain a healthy housing market vacancy rate of five percent, Juneau needs 360 more housing units.

Transportation

In 2010, 123,000 fewer people arrived in Juneau. This represents a 8.9 percent decrease in total passenger disembarkations over 2009. These declines are solely due to a reduction of cruise passengers. In 2009, the following number of passengers arrived:

• 875,593 cruise ship tourists-a 14 percent decline in cruise passenger traffic over 2009. An additional decrease of less than one percent is expected for 2011 as well.

• 77,991 ferry passengers-a one-year increase of 6.6 percent from 2009.

• 267,765 deplaning Alaska Airlines passengers-up 3.9 percent from 2009 figures.

• 36,121 passengers from other airlines - up 17.5 percent from 2009.

Passenger numbers will continue to grow in 2011 and 2012

In the first seven months of 2011, Alaska Airlines passenger deplanements were up 3 percent (5,266 more passengers) compared to the first seven months of 2011. The Juneau Convention and Visitors Bureau is projecting a five percent increase in cruise passengers in 2012.

Key Southeast Alaska Industry Statistics

Mining is booming in Southeast

With the 2010 opening of the Kensington Gold Mine in Juneau and the skyrocketing price of gold and other metals, the Southeast mining industry has been booming. In 2010, there were 536 mining jobs in Southeast Alaska and a payroll of more than $50 million.

This represents a 30 percent increase in employment from 2009, and an 84 percent increase from 2003, when there were just 291 mining jobs in the region. By 2012, JEDC expects the Southeast mining industry to have 600 employees in total and a combined payroll of $57 million annually.

Fishing and Seafood

The seafood industry is the largest private sector employer in Southeast Alaska in terms of wages, accounting for 13 percent of all regional wages, and 10 percent of all employment.

• In 2010, 4,645 Southeast residents (as crew or fishermen) fished commercially.

• Including non-residents, there were more than 10,000 participants in the Southeast Alaska fishery in 2010.

• In 2010, the ex-vessel value (or money paid to fishermen) of the Southeast fisheries was $291 million.

• In 2010, 51 shore-based seafood processing facilities collectively processed 209 million pounds of product, with a wholesale value of $468 million.

Due to a significant increase in seafood prices - especially for Coho, Chum and Chinook - fishermen in the Southeast fishery earned 25 percent more for their seafood in 2010 over 2009, despite a similar amount of pounds landed.