Wage increases in Alaska exceeded inflation for the decade between 2012 and 2021.
Alaska’s consumer price index for urban Alaska rose 15.2%, according to the Department of Labor, while average wages grew a remarkable 24%, from $50,097 to $62,123.
That adds up to a real gain of 7.7%, after price level changes are taken into account. Only during two years — 2013 and 2017 — did wage growth fail to keep pace with inflation.
The Department of Labor warns that high inflation in 2022 could gobble up some of those gains. The urban Alaska CPI rose 8.1% in 2022. Wage data for the full year aren’t yet available, but wage growth would have to accelerate rapidly to keep pace with inflation that high, the department said.
