The national recession created some unusual times in Alaska over the last three years. Initially, the state's economy kept growing while the nation shed a record number of jobs. Then, in 2009, Alaska put to bed its 21 years of uninterrupted employment growth and appeared to follow the national downturn. However, its overall employment levels quickly began to recover in 2010.

Science and engineering are embedded into the fabric of our lives, from improving everyday activities to developing our economy. Even during the coldest winter days, we remain warm in comfortably heated buildings and connected to the outside world by television, Internet, and cell phones. Science and technology operate behind the scenes, quietly and efficiently providing most of the comforts of modern living.

The term 'social assistance' is rarely used in conversation, but if you substitute 'services' for 'assistance', it may sound more familiar. What's more, employment trends in this industry often get lost in the limelight of its more prominent cousin, health care. This is because in most data series, the two are paired in the broader industry category of 'health care and social assistance'.

Millions of years ago, the collision of tectonic plates, accretion of exotic terranes, and volcanoes built the mountains near present-day Juneau. Over time, gold mineralized in the young Boundary Range as fluids, heat, and pressure moved through the earth. Glacial ice advanced and retreated, carving the mountains and exposing gold in rock outcrops and streambeds.

Cost of living information is one of the most requested and most discussed pieces of economic data - especially in Alaska. From longtime residents to people pondering a move north, people are always interested in how prices are changing and how communities compare.

Leisure and hospitality includes services aimed at residents as well as visitors, encompassing employment in mostly local establishments such as gyms, snack bars in malls,and food service contractors for other far-fl ung industries across the state.

The 2010 list of Alaska's largest private sector employers marks the 25th year of the Trends 100. The employers who make up the list have also been surprisingly enduring. While some firms have come and gone, all of the top 10 employers from 1985 are still with us in some form today.

Health care is an indispensable service, just like running water, electricity, public education, police and fire protection, roads and highways, and other hallmarks of developed nations. Because everyone needs a doctor at some point, it's an industry with a guaranteed customer base. In 2010, the health care industry accounted for about 9 percent of jobs in Alaska. It was the fourth largest industry, with 31,800 jobs and a payroll of $1.53 billion.

Alaska's economy of the past decade was without large booms, busts, or any defining economic event - yet it was still unique. The 2000-2010 decade was the slowest period of employment growth since statehood, and probably the least dramatic. Some referred to it as the 'one percent economy' because that's about as much as it grew each year. Despite the lackluster economic performance, it might have been one of the more balanced decades, as nearly every industry contributed to the expansion.

On average, women in Alaska earn less than men, and that gap exists across all industries, age groups, geographic areas, and most occupations. In 2010, an Alaska woman earned 67 cents to a man's dollar - a 5 cent increase from 1990. (See Exhibit 1.) Nearly half of Alaska workers are female, but women here make less than 40 percent of total state earnings. This disparity translates into lower average annual earnings for women and a gap of $14,361 from men's earnings in 2010. The aver- age Alaska woman earned $29,323 - 67 percent of the average man's $43,684.

Fish harvesting is a critical component of Alaska's economy, employing thousands of people across the state and bringing money and workers to parts of Alaska that might otherwise struggle to find steady sources of income. Its economic impact goes beyond the harvesting of fish, and includes seafood processing and all necessary support activities.

Construction of new homes seems to have finally stabilized after an up-and-down decade. The word 'feverish' was frequently used to describe the pace of residential construction in Alaska between 2001 and 2005 as around 3,000 new single-family homes went up each year. But after reaching a peak in 2005, building activity began to decline as early as 2006, dropped precipitously in 2007, then bottomed out in 2009.