As Alaska’s graduates start pounding the pavement (or gravel) for work, many of them may end up in nonprofit organizations. A significant part of Alaska’s economy is built on the backbone of the nonprofit sector.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, at least 10% of the state’s workforce, or approximately 33,750 individuals, are employed by nonprofits. Alaska ranks 15th in the nation in terms of the percentage of the employed population working in nonprofits.
The Washington Post’s data desk found that the highest number of nonprofit workers is in the nation’s capital, where 73,069 workers, or a 19.5%, are in the sector. It’s unsurprising, since many nonprofits like to have a Washington, D.C. presence, in order to protect government grants.
Contrast this with Texas, where only 5.7% of the workforce is in nonprofits, or Nevada with 3.8%.
The figures tell only half the story. As it turns out, a significant number of these jobs, nearly one in five, are in hospitals, and one in three are in the health sector more broadly.
According to the Post, 38% of all nonprofit jobs are in hospitals, and nonprofit hospitals employ more individuals than colleges, private schools, or religious organizations, which constitute the next largest nonprofit industries.
This reality is reflected acutely in the state of Alaska, where the health care sector is the largest economic driver in the state. In 2021, Alaska’s health care workers earned nearly $3 billion, more than any other industry in Alaska. Health care wages made up 12% of all state wages, having grown by 28% since 2016, according to the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association.
