State Economist Discusses High Cost of Living

Posted: July 3, 2012 at 12:45 pm

7/3/12

Why does AK have such a high cost of living compared to the rest of the U.S.A.?

That’s a question that has crossed the mind of many residents of the state at least from one time to another. We spoke to State Department of Labor Economist Neil Freed, who recently dove into that topic for the latest issue of Alaska Economic Trends.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Freed said that the state’s population is continuing to grow, however, the distance between areas in the state also plays a role in driving up costs..

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Freed said that other factors such as limited competition has seen in increase in the past years.