Industry grows in importance as employer

The growth in oil industry employment propelled private industry in Alaska last year.

Oil extraction and oilfield services jobs comprised some total 13 percent of employment for the 100 largest private employers in the state during 2007, according to Trends 100, published annually by economists with the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

For the past 21 years, the list has cataloged the 100 largest private employers in the state.

Oil industry employment in Alaska is increasingly consolidated among large companies. The 12 oil-related companies on the list employ about 85 percent of the 12,700 people who work in the industry.

The oil industry accounted for 5 percent of all private sector employment in 2007.

The new list also shows the changes in oil industry employment over the past decade.

First, the list represents the massive growth in employment since 1997. Back then the only oil industry companies represented in the top 10 were ARCO Alaska and VECO, who together employed some 2,700 people. Today, three oil-related companies in the top 10 — BP Exploration Alaska, CH2MHill and ASRC Energy Services — together employ about 5,500 people. Also, there have been changes in the makeup of the oil industry.

Native corporations and subsidiaries play a much larger role in the oil industry than they did a decade ago. Of the 16 Native companies in the top 100, four work almost entirely in the oil industry and a fifth, NANA/Colt Engineering, is an important player.

Halliburton Energy Services made the Trends 100 for the first time in 2007, while Chevron and Nabors Alaska Drilling both jumped more than 10 spots since 2006.

—Eric Lidji