2011 Matanuska-Susitna Borough
The oil and gas industry’s economic impact on the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) Borough is based on it being a place where people who work in the industry want to live. The combination of its proximity to Anchorage and its relatively inexpensive housing and land has made it the fastest growing part of the state over the last several decades. Some of that growth is attributable to oil industry workers who work in Anchorage or on the North Slope and want to live in Mat-Su. Although Mat-Su’s growing network of businesses receives some benefit from oil industry purchases of goods and services, the most significant impact the industry has on Mat-Su is in the incomes earned in the industry by Borough residents.
Key Findings
- Mat-Su residents held 418 Primary Company jobs and 2,148 oil and gas support services jobs.
- Mat-Su residents earned an estimated $221 million in wages from Primary Company and oil and gas support services companies.
- Household spending by those residents generates an additional 934 jobs and $40 million in wages.
- Total oil and gas industry related employment and payroll in Mat-Su is estimated at 3,600 jobs and $268 million in payroll.
Direct Employment and Payroll
Primary Company employment by residents of Mat-Su averaged 418 in 2010, with total annual payroll of $65 million. The actual work sites for all of those jobs were outside of the borough, mostly on the North Slope Borough or in Anchorage.
Indirect and Total Oil and Gas Industry Related Employment
An additional 2,148 jobs were held by Mat-Su residents who worked for companies classified as oil and gas industry support services. Another 100 jobs were held by Mat-Su residents working for companies that directly provided goods and services to the Primary Companies in support of their oil and gas operations but categorized in sectors other than oil and gas support services (transportation, construction, and professional and business services, among others).
As Mat-Su residents who work in oil industry jobs spend their money within the borough purchasing goods and services, additional jobs and income are created. That spending created an estimated 934 additional jobs in Mat-Su and $40 million in payroll. Combining the direct, indirect, and induced effects, the oil and gas industry generated 3,600 jobs and $268 million in payroll for Mat-Su residents.
The oil and gas industry accounted for an estimated 11 percent of all Mat-Su resident earnings and 11 percent of all Mat-Su employment. Within the private sector, the oil and gas industry’s impact was the equivalent of 14 percent of all employment and earnings.
Oil and Gas Jobs in the Mat-Su Borough by Place of Work and Place of Residence
The following table illustrates two different aspects of the oil and gas industry’s employment impact on the Mat-Su Borough: employment by place of work and employment by place of residence. This study defines the direct economic impact of the industry as the Mat-Su resident employment and payroll in Primary Companies – because those payroll dollars are the ones most likely to circulate through the local economy in spending on housing, goods and services, taxes, etc. There is also economic relevance in the number of industry jobs located in the borough, irrespective of where the job holders live.
Data by place of work and place of residence was available for Primary Companies and for companies designated in government statistics as oil and gas support services. This data indicates no Primary Company or support industry employment and payroll by place of work in the Mat-Su Borough. However, the oil and gas industry is a top employer of Mat-Su residents.
