Registered apprenticeships have become an increasingly popular option for Alaskans who want to advance their education, especially after high school. Nearly 9,000 people participated in a registered apprenticeship program between 2004 and 2014, and new registrations were over 50 percent higher in 2014 than in 2004. A registered apprenticeship, recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor, usually consists of at least 2,000 hours of paid on-the-job training plus classroom technical instruction. As apprentices gain experience, their wages increase.

Talk of Alaska being in a recession - or heading for one - has grown over the last year as oil prices have plunged. But what exactly is a recession, and what does it mean if we're in one? For states, there's no accepted definition on of a recession, and coming up with one isn't clear-cut. Nationally, the National Bureau of Economic Research - a private, nonprofit research group - and its Business Cycle Dating Committee are the recognized authority on identifying when the country entered a recession and when it ended. For example, the most recent national recession, often called the 'Great Recession'.

Alaska's economy faces significant headwinds in 2016, largely due to sustained low oil prices. The state is forecast to lose about 2,500 jobs in 2016, a 0.7 percent decline, after gaining 1,700 jobs in 2015. This would be the first year of job losses since 2009, when Alaska felt the wake from the national recession. The state's job growth rebounded quickly in 2010 and remained relatively strong through 2012, buoyed by the federal stimulus package, large capital budgets, and high oil prices. Growth slowed to a crawl in 2013, and employers added jobs at a yearly rate of half a percentage point or less between 2013 and 2015.

There's heightened interest in some of the state's broad economic measures recently as a result of low oil prices and state budget challenges. Through the first half of 2015, housing prices and other housing market indicators showed no major signs of weakness. The average sales price for a single-family home in Alaska increased 4 percent from the first half of 2014. But despite higher prices, housing affordability improved over that period. Statewide wages rose 3.5 percent, outpacing a 1.1 percent increase in inflation, and the average mortgage interest rate dropped a little over half a percentage point.

Alaska's commercial fishing employment grew by 0.7 percent in 2014, primarily driven by increased groundfish harvests. Groundfish harvesting employment grew by 24.8 percent, or about 350 jobs, with gains in every month of the year. Although 2014's total statewide increase was smaller than prior years, the industry has gained jobs every year since 2009.

The number of workers in Alaska and the total amount earned has grown steadily over the past 25 years, but there have been shifts in the distribution of those earnings. The percentage of year-round workers making relatively low wages - between $20,000 and $40,000 - increased from 28 percent in 1989 to 34 percent in 2014. Conversely, the percentage making moderately high wages - between $70,000 and $150,000 - fell from 34 percent to 26 percent.

When crude oil prices slid precipitously in late 2014, many began to draw parallels between Alaska's current budget shortfall and the deep recession of the mid-1980s, questioning whether we're headed for another meltdown. The fiscal similarity between the two eras is clear: state general fund revenue is just as dependent on the value of oil now as it was then, and Alaska still relies heavily on federal spending. The relative importance of these two economic drivers hasn't diminished even as the rest of the economy has grown.

Tourism's rise in Southeast Alaska was tied primarily to the development of cruise lines, which helped the region's economies flourish and continue to transport the vast majority of Southeast's visitors. Today, around a million people visit Southeast Alaska each summer, and most arrive by cruise ship. Tourism was one of Alaska's first industries, and Southeast was the first visitor destination. During the late 19th century, small numbers of tourists traveled north on steamships, sharing space with miners, fishermen, and aspiring business owners in the new territory.

Juneau is full of historically and politically important homes. The National Register of Historic Places includes the governor's mansion, completed in 1912, the summer cabin of territorial governor Ernest Gruening at Amalga Harbor, built in 1947, and the Wickersham house, home of one of Alaska's most notable judges and statesmen, built in 1898.

The cost of living in Alaska has been a topic of lore and fascination since the state's beginnings. During the gold rush days, writers lamented the often astronomical expense of goods in the territory compared to the rest of the nation - for example, a pound of canned butter during the Klondike Gold Rush was $5, or about $142 in today's dollars.