The oil and gas industry is the largest component of Alaska’s economy. Nearly 85 percent of the state budget is supplied by oil revenues. The fortunes of Alaska’s oil industry, and therefore many sectors of the economy, are dependent upon world oil prices.
Forests add to Alaska’s beauty and provide a renewable economic resource. With 28 million acres of commercial forest, Alaska’s timber industry supplies world markets with logs, lumber, pulp, and other forest products. Much of Southeast Alaska is part of the Tongass National Forest, a 16.8 million acre rainforest. The Chugach is the nation’s second largest national forest with 4.8 million acres.
Alaska contains half the nation’s coal reserves, and its largest silver and zinc mines. Glittering gold in Alaska’s streams and mountains still lure miners to work private claims.
About 15 million acres of soil in Alaska are suitable for farming, with 1 million acres currently in production. The long daylight hours of summer produce vegetables of extraordinary size. Farmers in the Matanuska Valley grow cabbages weighing more than 90 pounds.
Alaska’s main export product after oil and natural gas is seafood, primarily salmon, cod, Pollock and crab. In the 2013 fishing season, Alaskan fishers were able to accumulate a total of 5.8 billion pounds of seafood, which equates to an evaluation of $1.9 billion, a small, but noticeable increase in comparison to 2012, which had a total of 5.3 billion and $1.7 billion respectively. Employment is primarily in government and industries such as natural resource extraction, shipping, and transportation. Military bases are a significant component of the economy in both Fairbanks and Anchorage. Federal subsidies are also an important part of the economy, allowing the state to keep taxes low. Its industrial outputs are crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, gold, precious metals, zinc and other mining, seafood processing, timber and wood products. There is also a growing service and tourism sector. Tourists have contributed to the economy by supporting local lodging.
Its strong economic sectors include the federal government, the military, mineral extraction, oil and gas, and seafood. The tourism industry also continues to grow each year thanks to Alaska’s abundance of beautiful natural resources, such as Glacier Bay. Here is some background on eight major employers in Alaska:
Providence Health & Services, Carrs-Safeway Alaska Division, Fred Meyer, Walmart/Sam’s Club, Trident Seafoods, Alaska Airlines, ASRC Energy Services, Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation.
Alaska has 63,497 small businesses, according to the most current federal data available.
Of those 63,497 small businesses in Alaska, 16,443 have employees. The remaining 47,054 are Alaska small businesses that have no employees.
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The most common business structures are sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), and a few different types of corporations—the standard corporation (often called a C corporation or “C corp”), the small business corporation (often called an S corporation or “S corp”), and the benefit corporation (often called a B corporation or “B corp”).
The most common business structures are:
Choosing a business name is important, you want to make it easier for your customers to remember it, here are some tips:
Depending on the business structure you chose you will need to register your business.
For Alaska DBA (Doing Business As) go to:
https://dbafilingonline.com/dba-by-state/alaska-dba/For Corporations go to:
Alaska department of corporations
For LLC’s go to:
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/limited-liability-company-llc
With limited exceptions, most businesses require an Employer Identification Number (EIN), also known as a Tax ID Number. An EIN is used to identify a business in its federal tax filings. Without an EIN, you can’t hire employees or open a business bank account.
– Open a business bank account:
– Get a business credit card:
Now that you’ve registered your business name you need to obtain a business license for your company – this authorizes your company to do business in your city or county. Typically this also involves registering for state taxes and permits (the city may require them as part of the business licensing process).
Here are some links for Alaska Businesses:
Selling products? Check Alaska Resale Permit
Business Licensing for the State of Alaska
Your brand is the image customers have of your business, so it’s important to determine who is your audience and what is the message that you want to project. That way, your company’s image will be what you intend it to be. It should be strategic and intentional.
Creating an optimized website helps you to gain important visibility for the right terms. A website is a powerful sales tool and one that allows you to address your customers’ concerns, give them the information they need to make a decision and create compelling calls to action.
In addition to a website, you should also consider other avenues for promoting your business online:
Alaska department of corporations
Alaska Small Business Development Center
Small Business Assistance Center