Despite job losses due to consolidation, Alaska's economy managed to post its eleventh consecutive year of job gains in 1999. Alaska's job base grew 2,600 jobs, pushing the annual average wage and salary employment to 277,600.

Representation and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers.. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

In the depths of the Great Depression in 1935, the U.S. Congress passed the Social Security Act, establishing an economic stabilization program of partial wage replacement for workers during periods of temporary, involuntary unemployment.

Alaska state government, including the University of Alaska and state-owned corporations such as the Alaska Railroad and the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, is the second largest employer in the state. With nearly 22,000 employees, it takes the second spot after the federal government (including uniformed military) among Alaska's largest employers.

As Alaska approaches the year 2000, the staff of Alaska Economic Trends thought it would be an opportune moment to look back at major economic trends that have helped shape Alaska since statehood. Alaska has moved from the formative days of statehood through oil and gas's rise to dominance in the economy and on to life after Prudhoe Bay.

Nearly 22,000 people work in Alaska's transportation industry, making it one of the state's larger employers. Employment in transportation is greater than in the state's timber, oil, and construction industries. In fact, it employs about the same number of people as state government.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough's economy is one of amazing diversity. Unlike many places in Alaska, where one or two industries dominate the economy, the Peninsula's economy requires considerably more effort to describe. In a nutshell, the economic strength of the borough is its diversity.

Alaska's biggest island, and the second largest in the nation, is Kodiak Island. With its surrounding islands, it is home of the Kodiak Island Borough, which encompasses 6,463 square miles of land, an area larger than the state of Connecticut. The Borough has 1,274 miles of coast, and many fjords, peninsulas and capes.

During the Klondike gold rush of the late 1890s, thousands headed north to Alaska and the Yukon Territory in search of personal fortune. Goldseekers came through Skagway, the port nearest to embarkation points for the famous Chilkoot and White Pass trails, on their way to Dawson City and points beyond. The first boatloads of stampeders arrived in Skagway and nearby Dyea in the summer of 1897. By October, a Northwest Mounted Police report estimated Skagway's population at more than 20,000.

'How expensive is it to live in Alaska? What is the rate of inflation in Alaska? These are two of the questions most frequently asked of the Alaska Department of Labor's Research and Analysis section. In answer to these questions