Physician Assistants

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State of Alaska > Department of Labor > Research & Analysis Home > Alaska Occupations

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Physician Assistants (29-1071)

Occupation description: Provide healthcare services typically performed by a physician, under the supervision of a physician. Conduct complete physicals, provide treatment, and counsel patients. May, in some cases, prescribe medication. Must graduate from an accredited educational program for physician assistants. Excludes "Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics" (29-2041), "Medical Assistants" (31-9092), "Registered Nurses" (29-1141), "Nurse Anesthetists" (29-1151), "Nurse Midwives" (29-1161), and "Nurse Practitioners" (29-1171).

For an explanation of the data, click on the question mark next to the heading.

Career Ladder/Lattice

The Alaska Career Ladder/Lattice is a tool to help job seekers identify upward career paths and lateral opportunities.
Click here to see the career ladder/lattice for Physician Assistants.

Employment and Job Openings

	Average employment			Average annual openings
	2010 estimate	2020 projection	Percent change	Growth	Replacement	Total
Alaska	338	441	30.5	10	7	17
United States	83,600	108,300	29.5	2,470	1,590	4,060

Job outlook

Alaska: Alaska’s employment growth is robust with high employment opportunities. Read more.

2012 Wages

	Mean Wage and 95% Confidence Interval			Wage by Percentile
	Low	Mean	High	10th	Median	90th
United States	n/a	44.45	n/a	30.01	43.72	59.99
Alaska	44.60	46.46	48.32	35.25	45.01	59.64
Anchorage/Mat-Su Area (MSA)	44.06	46.57	49.08	38.22	44.08	60.83
Fairbanks North Star Borough (MSA)	45.56	49.85	54.14	36.61	50.23	58.81
Balance of State	39.58	42.93	46.28	30.15	42.55	62.80

Labor Force Indicators

2011 Worker Characteristics
Total workers	Nonresident workers	Percent nonresident	Percent age 45 plus	Percent age 50 plus
484	123	25.4	55.9	43.9

2011 Potential Supply

Qualified but working in another occupation	82
Currently employed in a lower paid occupation	37
UI claimants previously working in occupation	19

2011 ALEXsys Employment Data

Number of registrants	56
Number of job position postings	130
Ratio of registrants to job position postings	0.4

2011 Alaska Licensing Information

Physician Assistant - Certified: 481 licensed View licensing requirements

Typical Entry-level Education, Experience, and/or On-the-job Training

Education: Master's degree

Work experience: None

On-the-job training: None

Department of Labor and Workforce Development
Research & Analysis Section

1111 W. 8th St., Juneau, AK 99801
P.O. Box 115501, Juneau, AK 99811-5501

Phone: 907.465.4500 Fax: 907.465.4506

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