Alaska GDP declines but is still high

Alaska was the only state in the U.S. that saw a decline in gross domestic product from 2012 to 2013, according to a new report from the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis. The gross domestic product, or GDP, is an inflation-adjusted measure of the total value of goods and services within the state. According to the bureau’s data, the Alaska GDP fell from $52.8 billion to $51.5 billion, a decline of 2.5 percent.

But with a GDP per capita of the population of $70,113 in 2013, Alaska still ranks highest of the 50 states in terms of this measure of economic activity, the bureau says. By comparison, the average per-capita GDP for the United States was $49,115.

The GDP decline in Alaska results essentially from a decline in the value of what the bureau refers to as “mining,” an economic classification that includes the oil and gas industry. According to the bureau’s 2012 data, “oil and gas extraction” constituted 78 percent of the total value of that “mining” category.

Shane Taylor, an economist with the bureau, told Petroleum News that the decline in GDP in Alaska can be attributed to a combination of a decline in the state’s oil production and changes in the oil price - the value of oil production within the GDP is a multiple of the production and the price.

- Alan Bailey