Alaska's small but growing manufacturing sector is centered on petroleum refining and the processing of lumber and food products, especially seafood.
Of Alaska's ten top employers, five are engaged in the petroleum industry: ARCO Alaska, VECO, BP Exploration, Alyeska Pipeline Service, and Alaska Petroleum Contractors. Other principal employers among industry groups are food and kindred products, lumber and wood products, and printing and publishing. Manufacturing shipments valued at $3,760 million in 1997 placed Alaska 49th among the 50 states in terms of manufacturing growth, at the low rate of 3.6% from 1992, and fourth to last in terms of value added. Shipments from mineral industries reached over $10 billion for 1997, putting the state 2nd only to Louisiana and Texas (primarily from the oil and gas industries). Growth for the mineral industry, however, was average.
The following table provides the number of persons employed, the annual payroll, and the total number of establishments for the major industries within the state.
Earnings of persons employed in Alaska increased from $12.6 billion in 1997 to $13 billion in 1998, an increase of 3.6%. The largest industries in 1998 were services, 21.3% of earnings; state and local government, 17.8%; and transportation and public utilities, 10.4%. Of the industries that accounted for at least 5% of earnings in 1998, the slowest growing from 1997 to 1998 was military (5.2% of earnings in 1998), which decreased 1.1%; the fastest was transportation and public utilities, which increased 8.1%.