Wages in the Haines Borough rose by 8% last decade, a growth rate outpaced by most other census areas in Alaska, according to the state’s March economic trends report.
The borough’s average wages in 2020 were $40,632, up from $37,757 in 2010, as reported by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Haines was tied with the Fairbanks North Star Borough for sixth-slowest wage growth out of the state’s 29 census areas over the last decade.
The average yearly wage growth in Alaska was 11%, with adjustments for inflation. The average wage statewide in 2020 was $61,116 — about $6,000 more than the average 10 years earlier.
Everywhere in the state saw growth over the decade, except for the Lake and Peninsula Borough, where wages fell by 6%. The Aleutians East Borough experienced the highest average wage increase, at 48%, and Yakutat had the second highest at 40%.
The North Slope Borough still has the highest average wage in the state — $108,864.
“Most of the areas with the highest average wage growth over the decade were small labor markets with seasonal workforces,” economist Neal Fried wrote in the March trends report. Seafood processing was the industry with the largest wage growth – 35% — while construction saw the lowest, 1%.
The pandemic boosted the statewide wage average because most jobs lost due to covid were low-paying ones.
The hospitality and leisure industries, where wages averaged $25,164 in 2020, were hit the hardest by the pandemic, while the job market in the mining industry, where the average wage in 2020 was $154,500, was more stable.