A dock in Petersburg.

Business Climate

The following information is from the 2001 McDowell Group study of Petersburg's economic profile.

Petersburg Population and Employment

The population of Petersburg (3,224 as of 2000) has remained stable in recent years, with only a 0.2 percent growth between the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Census counts. During the 1990s the community experienced some economic fluctuation resulting primarily from changes in the seafood and forest products industries. School enrollment has waned, as evidenced by a 12 percent decrease between 1997 and 2000, a loss of about 90 students - partly due to home schooling and partly due to out-migration. These population indicators show some aging of the population and out-migration of families with children.

Wage and salary employment as tracked by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development has declined moderately in recent years from 1,560 in 1995 to 1,436 average annual jobs in 1999. The loss has been primarily in private sector jobs. However, employment captured by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development does not take into account seafood harvesting jobs and uniformed military, including U.S. Coast Guard. The McDowell Group estimates seafood harvesting employment at 542 annual average jobs, and employment reported by the U.S. Coast Guard at 27 jobs, for a total of 2,005 in 1999. Please note: all employment data in this report, including seafood harvesting, is expressed as annual average employment. This standard term includes all full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs, averaging them for the year.

Other Economic Indicators

Housing construction peaked during 1997 at 45 units and just five homes were constructed in 2000. Historically, housing construction averages 15 to 25 new homes per year. The assessed value of property has remained stable, keeping pace with inflation with an increase of 2.4 percent between 1999 and 2000. The current value is $196.1 million.

The Petersburg Economic Profile reveals that Petersburg has a wide variety of economic assets that provide a promising economic future for the community. These assets include:

• The region's most productive seafood harvesting fleet
• Good seafood industry support infrastructure
• A strong processing sector
• A good-paying and relatively stable government sector
• Available land
• Nearby forest and mineral resources
• A small but promising tourism industry
• A strong and generous nonprofit sector
• A growing senior population with substantial income, and
• A community that widely supports moderate economic growth in several sectors of the economy

Petersburg's "Economic Engines"

Economic base industries are those industries that bring new money into the local economy by exporting some goods or services outside the local area. The remainder of the local economy consists of support industries that cater to the local population and business community. Support businesses do not create new wealth for the community. However, money brought to the economy by the basic industries and other outside sources, such as retirement income, impacts the local economy in many ways as it cycles through the support businesses.

Industries that provide the economic base for a region determine the overall prosperity of a community. A good example is the seafood industry. In Petersburg, local residents harvest salmon, halibut, crab, sablefish, and a variety of other finfish and shellfish species. Residents of Petersburg then process and export finished seafood to consumers in the U.S., Japan, and the rest of the world. In exchange, Petersburg fishermen and processors are paid with money that originates outside the local economy. The fishermen and processor employees in turn spend a portion of their paycheck in Petersburg's support sector on such things as groceries, electricity, maintenance, daycare, health care, and rent. These expenditures create additional support jobs in the Petersburg economy.

Seafood Industry

The seafood industry is the largest industry in Petersburg. Annual equivalent employment in 1999 for Petersburg fishermen is an estimated 542. Employment in the processing industry was 337. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) also contributes to Petersburg's economic base by managing the area-wide fisheries for all Alaska and non-Alaska residents. In all, fishermen, the processing industry, and ADF&G contributed approximately 78 percent of Petersburg's economic base employment and 44 percent of total employment.

Visitor Industry

National Interest Industries

Manufacturing

Other Basic Industries