Top 5 Employers in Alaska: Which Companies Have the Most Jobs?

Some of Alaska’s top employers have deep roots in the state, reaching back more than a century, while others are newer entrants to the Alaskan economy.

Here are the top five employers in the state, as ranked by Alaska’s Department of Labor and Workforce Development:

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1. Providence Health and Services, the state’s leading healthcare provider, established itself in Nome over a century ago when the Sisters of Providence brought healthcare there during the Gold Rush, the company website states. The company has an average monthly employment of 4,000.

Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage is the largest Providence hospital in the state; other locations are in Eagle River, Kodiak Island, Mat-su Valley, Seward, and Valdez.

2. The second largest employer in Alaska is Wal-Mart. Sam Walton opened his first discount store in Arkansas in 1962, and 50 years later, the store has 11,000 stores in 71 countries. The first Wal-Mart store opened in Alaska in Juneau in 2007, according to the Capital City Weekly.

Today there are Wal-Mart stores in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Eagle River, Kenai, Kodiak, Wasilla, Juneau, and Ketchikan. The typical employee count per month ranges from 3,000 to 3,249, the DLWD said.

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3. Carrs/Safeway, the third largest employer in Alaska, is the result of two companies that merged to make one. J.B. Gottstein & Co. opened in 1915, selling groceries. In 1949, Gottstein’s son began managing the business and made expansions, the company website states. Larry Carr opened a grocery store in 1950 and in 1974 the companies merged.

Today, there are multiple stores in Anchorage, as well as Eagle River, Palmer, and Wasilla. The average number of employees per month is anywhere from 2,750 to 2,999.

4. In 1922, Fred Meyer (formerly Frederick Grubmeyer) opened his first store in Portland, Oregon; at that time, customers visited different shops for various goods. Meyer’s one-stop shopping idea took off, and today his stores are about 150,000 square feet and stock more than 225,000 items, the Meyer’s website states. The average monthly employee count is between 2,500 and 2,749.

5. ASRC Energy Services Alaska Inc., an oil and gas service company, is headquartered in Anchorage and is a minority-owned company, representing the interests of 11,000 Inupiat Eskimo shareholders, its website states. ASRC partners with the energy industry and is involved in all aspects of oil fields, from beginning to end. The average employee count per month is 2,250 to 2,499.

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