Alaska (><) Philippines Connection 7
The Problem is the USA Nuclear Arsenal in Alaska–and independent-minded people who live here…
After more than 60 years living in Alaska, I have seen a lot of people come and go and observed what kinds of people are likely to stay. In the 2020 census Alaska was ranked the least densely populated state with 733,391 people over 586,000 square miles of land. This represented an increase of only 23,160 people over the 2010 census.
The next largest state of the USA in area is Texas with 261,232 sq mi. and 29.53M people.
[1]Alaska census, 2020
The Men That Don’t Fit In
BY ROBERT SERVICE
There’s a race of men who don’t fit in,
A race that can’t stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin
And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
And they climb the mountain’s crest;
Theirs us the curse f the gypsy blood,
And they don’t know how to rest.
Alaska is one-fifth the size of the continental USA.
But the fact is it takes a special kind of person to live in the Alaska Climate Zone and often people come here to live for the wrong reasons. We who have lived here a long time know how to prepare for winter conditions, and adapt to the challenges of short summers with long days, followed by long winter nights, keeping warm, and driving in icy conditions.
If they just went straight they might go far;
They are strong and brave and true;
But they’re always tired of the things that are,
And they want the strange and new.
They say: “Could I find my proper groove,
What a deep mark I would make!”
So they chop and change, and each fresh move
Is only a fresh mistake.
People living in other places may look at Alaska’s inflated economy and think this is a place to get rich quickly and go home to live happily ever after. Or, some may come here thinking with such a small population they may expect to be successful in their chosen field because they are confident of their skills and certain they will be appreciated. There are myriad other reasons some people decide to come to Alaska to live and more often than not the reasons have to do with getting away from a situation they have created for themselves somewhere else thinking Alaska is far enough away to start fresh. I have seen a lot of people come to Alaska for the wrong reasons and have to leave after a relatively short time.
The BEST reason to come to Alaska is to work in a specialized field of demand for top pay. Before deciding to move here it would be prudent to check out whether our schools and government infrastructure are at a level worthy of your investment. I have known a lot of quality professionals who come here and are able to make a good life for themselves and their families because they can earn enough to override our inherent inflation—caused by cost of shipping so many items from somewhere else. I have written about this before. Anyone considering moving to Alaska should also read this story.
[2]Job Considerations to Stay in Alaska
Many Filipinos also come to Alaska for economic opportunity. They represent the largest Asian population in Alaska and have a strong presence in Juneau, the Capital of Alaska, where a statue of Jose Rizal has been placed in Manila Square in recognition of the significant contribution of Filipino people to Alaska.
[3]Filipino Community, Inc.
Distribution of Persons of Filipino descent Around the World
[4]‘Alaskeros’:Pinoys in Alaska, the original overseas Filipino workers, The Philippine Star.
There are an estimated 114 Million Filipinos in the Philippines and another estimated 1.77 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. Money sent home to Philippines by OFW is a major source of income for the country’s economy and a tribute to the quality workers originating from Philippines.
[5]Overseas Filipino Worker, Wikipedia
Anyone coming to Alaska to live will soon recognize the unique lifestyle of this most northern state of the USA. Our economy is based on natural resource development and government service employment. Many service jobs, such as those in the tourism industry, are mostly seasonal and inadequate to support a family. Our economy is too volatile to expect a quality life without career employment skills.
Alaska hit a 41-year high of 8.1 Percent Inflation in 2022
From the Alaska Department of Labor: Last year’s inflation rate also tied for the fifth-highest in the 61-year history of Alaska’s consumer price index. The four highest years were in the 1970s and early 1980s during a period known nationally as The Great Inflation. That era of persistent, rapid price growth included Alaska’s historical peak of 13.7 percent in 1975 during the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
I was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News and remember well the rush for high-pay Alaska jobs associated with construction of the pipeline and oil rush fever. Further inflated Cost-Of-Living could happen again anytime with a transportation breakdown catastrophe between Alaska and Seattle.
And each forgets, as he strips and runs
With a brilliant, fitful pace,
It’s the steady, quiet, plodding ones
Who win in the lifelong race.
And each forgets that his youth has fled,
Forgets that his prime is past,
Till he stands one day, with a hope that’s dead,
In the glare of the truth at last.
[6]Alaska Department of Labor, Trends Magazine
According to this report from the AK Labor, Transportation prices rose the most last year while food, beverages and housing also rose precipitously. Due to Alaska’s volatile economy it is foolhardy to come here expecting to stay very long without some form of support system or at least a guaranteed job. But the good news is by April of 2023 inflation in Alaska had dropped back to 3.1 Percent.
What Alaskans Buy
The Railbelt Population Center of Alaska
The majority of Alaska population is located along what is called the Alaska Railroad Railbelt from the Port of Alaska at the largest city of Anchorage, to semi-urban communities of Kenai, Matanuska-Susitna Borough, and Fairbanks.
He has failed, he has failed; he has missed his chance;
He has just done things by half.
Life’s been a jolly good joke on him,
And now is the time to laugh.
Ha, ha! He is one of the Legion Lost;
He was never meant to win;
He’s a rolling stone, and it’s bred in the bone;
He’s a man who won’t fit in.
It has been said that becoming an Alaskan may make a
person unfit to live anywhere else. After 60 Alaska
winters this writer is lately undergoing rehabilitation for
that condition, in Philippines…
Another story you might enjoy: Celebrating Rizal on My Birthday:
https://donnliston907.substack.com/p/celebrating-rizal-on-my-birthday
See what other blasphemies are being said about Alaska
to readers of DONN’s GROWING International Platform:
References:
[1]Alaska census
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/alaska-population-change-between-census-decade.html
[2]Filipino Community Inc,
http://www.filcomalaska.org/
[3]Job Considerations to Stay in Alaska
[4] ‘Alaskeros’:Pinoys in Alaska, the original overseas Filipino workers.
https://philstarlife.com/living/812040-pinoys-in-alaska-the-original-ofws
[5]Overseas Filipino Worker, Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Filipino_Worker
During the Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos, three government agencies were created to tend to the needs of Filipino migrant workers, namely:
- National Seamen Board (NSB) : To “develop and maintain a comprehensive program for Filipino seamen employed overseas”.
- Overseas Employment Development Board (OEDB) – To “promote the overseas employment of Filipino workers through a comprehensive market and development program”.
- Bureau of Employment Services (BES) – responsible for the regulation of “private sector participation in the recruitment of (local and overseas) workers”.
In 1982, these three agencies were consolidated to create the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), which later became an attached agency to the Department of Labor and Employment.[4] On December 30, 2021, then-President Duterte signed into law the “Department of Migrant Workers Act” (Republic Act 11641), which consolidates all OFW-related services into one department.[8] The new Department of Migrant Workers is slated to be operational by 2023.[9]
[6]Alaska Department of Labor, Trends Magazine
https://live.laborstats.alaska.gov/trends-magazine/2023/July/the-cost-of-living-in-alaska
‘[7]Alaska Land Ownership
