Juneau's economy on the rebound

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Wednesday, December 1st, 2021 12:56pm

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Juneau Economic Development Council Executive Director Brian Holst

Juneau, Alaska (KINY) - Data indicates that Juneau's economy has recovered in 2021.

Juneau Economic Development Council Executive Director Brian Holst said on Action Line that things are changing and the economy is opening up.  He pointed to a number of indicators.  One was the number of independent travelers to Juneau.  "We had a good year.  We have some data now to confirm that relative to 2019, 2021 visits were just down fourteen percent.  That is a strong recovery."

Employment is stronger, he said.  "In October of 2021 we have more jobs than we had in October of 2019.  That's actually quite remarkable just given the challenges that we're all experiencing."  

Holst added that they are not banking too much on that since it amounts to 200 additional jobs.  "We know that part of that has to do with the fact that the cruise ships which  had a very light season extended their season into October.  But, in general, that's really good to see that employment in Juneau has pretty much recovered."

And consumer spending is up.  Holst explained that they've been able to track spending through various data sources that were put together during the pandemic across the local economy.  "Consumer spending, on average today, is back to where it was pre-pandemic which is great."  He added that consumer spending is a very good barometer.

 

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