When observing the map, it is interesting to see that five Alaskan counties along the center diagonal of the state have large populations living below the poverty line. The names of these counties are Yukon-Koyukuk, Nome, Wade Hampton, Bethel, and Dillingham. What was more interesting that even the counties on the coast had a lot of poverty, and this was interesting because one of Alaska’s top exports is seafood. Connecting this to race, Alaska obviously has a larger population of Alaskan natives than any other population, but it is especially high in these rural counties in the heart of the state. The outskirts of the state have a White population in the 80 and 90 percent range, particularly in the Southeastern part of the state, which is more urban. The areas with a much higher White population have much less poverty. The reason for this distribution of race is that most Natives live in rural areas while non-Natives live in urban areas. I found that the most poverty-ridden counties had more Native Alaskans than any other race.

I found that if you look into Alaskan economy, you will find that many events in the 70’s worked to improve it. One thing that happened during the 70’s was a 25% population increase. Economic booms were mainly the thing that kept Alaska going, and one that happened in the 1970’s was the pipeline construction boom, which was the construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline. This brought in a lot of migrants looking to work.

Despite all the economic improvement, other factors played into Native poverty. I found that even though population increased and more Natives had jobs, many more were in unemployment. This was because there are not many jobs in their small rural villages. Another thing that I found was that although Alaskan family incomes rose about 40% between 1969 and 1979, income for Alaskan Native families “remained far below those of non-Native families.” It was shown that the difference in income between Native families and Non-Native families was over $12,000. It was also stated that the poverty level might even be understated because of the stark difference in the cost of living in rural vs. urban areas.

works cited:

“ALASKA REVIEW OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS.” ALASKA REVIEW OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. N.p. N.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“State Exports from Alaska.” N.p. N.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

“Trends in Alaska’s People and Economy.” Institute of Social and Economic Research. N.p. 1 Oct. 2001. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.

 

-Miranda Delancey