Workforce shortage in Southeast
Health care providers in Southeast Alaska are having big problems filling positions with registered nurses particularly in short supply. Up to 30 percent of the professional workers employed by health providers in the region are “travelers,” or temporary staff brought up from the Lower 48. The average is 9 percent. This is an extremely high-cost answer to the workforce problem, which is also experienced in other rural Alaska regions. The University of Alaska is being asked to ramp up training so that local people can be employed, reducing the travelers and their costs.

Health care big Southeast employer
Health care is a major employer in Southeast with 3,990 employed and a $243 million annual payroll. In the last four years nearly 500 jobs and $50 million in wages have been added, mainly to support the growing needs of an aging population, according to Rainforest Data, a regional research firm doing work for Southeast Conference. But now steep state cuts to Medicaid funding, compounded by the potential loss of matching federal dollars, have reversed business confidence in the industry’s continued growth, Rain Coast Data said in a report.