|
VECO No. 6 on state’s list of largest private employers BP Exploration (Alaska), Alaska Petroleum Contractors also make top 10 in list by Department of Labor and Workforce Development Kristen Nelson PNA Editor-in-Chief
A number of companies in Alaska’s oil and gas industry and companies providing goods and services to the industry are on the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s list of 100 largest private employers for 2001.
Labor economist Neal Fried said in the August issue of the department’s “Alaska Economic Trends” that while no industry appears to dominate the top 100 private employees, the oil industry looms large.
“Nearly 83 percent of all oil industry workers are employed by one of the state’s largest employers. The capital-intensive nature of the oil business appears to favor larger companies,” Fried said.
He told PNA that the tendency of the oil industry players to be big companies compared to others in Alaska has been true for a long time. Those companies also represent a disproportionate payroll size, he said.
Data from state information Fried told PNA the list does not come from voluntary responses to a survey, but from data reported to the state: the number of employees in an employer’s employee security contributions account — employees covered by unemployment insurance.
The number of employees on the list represents a 12-month average, Fried said, and is based on how the companies report the number of jobs under employee security contributions accounts. The company may be doing more than one thing, he said, such as construction and engineering, but the employees will be reported where the largest number of employees are.
Changes in list Fried compared the top 10 private employers in 2001 with the top 10 employers in 1991. Among oil and gas and related companies, VECO and BP are on both lists.
The 2001 top 10 includes VECO (No. 6 with 1,535 employees); BP (No. 8 with 1,147 employees); and Alaska Petroleum Contractors (No. 10 with 1,105 employees).
The 1991 top 10 list included ARCO Alaska (No. 2 with 2,914 employees); BP Exploration (No. 4 with 1,502 employees; VECO (No. 5 with 1,441 employees); and Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. (No. 6 with 1,269 employees).
The 2001 list There are no oil-related companies in the top five of the 2001 100 largest private employers — Providence Health System tops the list with 3,369 employees, followed by Safeway Stores/Carrs, Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club and Alaska Airlines.
The selection of top 100 companies below includes oil and gas exploration and production companies and companies providing services and supplies to the oil and gas industry.
| 