Author: UA Workforce Development

Spread the Word — BEC Monthly Meetings

Click the image to view past meetings.

Each month, the Alaska Safety Alliance hosts the Alaska Business Education Compact (BEC). This monthly meeting series provides a Zoom forum for educators and employers to discuss issues that are involved with developing the workforce and provide pathways for Alaskans into careers. The forum brings in employers from business and industry, educators from K-12 to post-secondary, as well as those representing other groups such as veterans, the disabled, and the diverse. Attendees connect in from all regions of the state, from Southeast to Southwest, and from Southcentral to the North Slope.

BEC meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month at 8:00 am via Zoom. There will be an in-person luncheon and program on October 25, 2024 at O’Malley’s On the Green in Anchorage, AK.

Click here to receive BEC notices.

Source: Alaska Safety Alliance

Alaska Economic Trends (May 2024)

A Juneau neighborhood. Photo by Sam Dapcevich.

Rob Keiger, economist with the Alaska Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development, details why homes in Alaska are still selling — the market is by no means stalling —with limited inventory and affordability pushing prospective homebuyers out of the market.

The May edition also features a piece on three Alaskan ghost towns, and the monthly Gauging the Economy report.

Read the full edition here.

Trends is a nonpartisan, data-driven magazine that covers a variety of economic topics in Alaska.

Source: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Research & Analysis

Alaska Statewide Mentor Project Providing Teacher Mentors to Rural Alaska

Above from left to right: First-grade teacher Amelia Tulim is starting her career in the same school she attended as a child in Chevak (Photo by LA Johnson, NPR); Once a month, teacher mentor Ed Sotelo takes three planes to get to Tulim’s classroom in Chevak (Photo by LA Johnson, NPR); Snowmobiles glide across the tundra at sunset in Chevak (Photo by Joseph, Flickr).

Nationwide, teachers are in short supply. That’s especially true in small, isolated districts, the kind that are easy to find in Alaska. Here, hiring teachers is only half the battle. Keeping them is hard, too. Alaska is especially hit hard by the teacher shortages, losing roughly one in four teachers every year. But research shows there is a powerful thing schools can do to retain teachers — pair them up with veteran teacher mentors. NPR’s Cory Turner shares the story of one effort to get mentors out to Alaska’s most remote schools — the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project (ASMP).

The story follows the experience of Chevak first-grade teacher, Amelia Tulim, and the meaningful mentorship of ASMP’s veteran teacher, Dan Sostelo.

Click here to listen to the story or read the transcript.

Source: Cory Turner, Correspondent/Senior Editor, NPR Ed.

Alaska Economic Trends (April 2024)

A drink on an Alaska cruise, photo by Flickr user Paul O’Russa under Creative Commons license.

Gunner Shultz, economist with the Alaska Dept. of Labor and Workforce Development, explains what 2023 drops to inflation rates means to Alaska. Although rates decreased, this does not mean prices decreased —prices went up less than they did the year before.

The April edition also features seafood processing and closures, post-covid population trends, and the monthly Gauging the Economy report.

Read the full edition here.

Trends is a nonpartisan, data-driven magazine that covers a variety of economic topics in Alaska.

Source: Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development, Research & Analysis