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Kenai offers unique and diverse career opportunities. Kenai is a platform for resource development, supplying hundreds of jobs in the oil and gas industry. Commercial and sport fishing, tourism and health care are also industries that provide several job opportunities for local residents.
INCOME
Per capita income levels in Kenai stood at $45,600 in 2005, slightly behind the state and nation. Kenai is a relatively low-cost labor area. The area has seen steady increases in per capita income since 1999. The City also has a low poverty rate with 8.8% of families and 10.3% of individuals living in poverty in 2001 as apposed to national averages of 9.2% and 12.4% respectively.
Estimated median household income in 2005: $45,600 (it was $45,962 in 2000)
Kenai: $45,600
Alaska: $56,234
(Provided by www.city-data.com)
Employment and Industry Sectors
Historically, unemployment rates in the Kenai Peninsula Borough have been above statewide averages. Over the period 1990-2000, the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s unemployment rate averaged 12.5 percent compared to 7.4 percent statewide. The Kenai/Soldotna area’s wage employment grew by 24 percent between 1990 and 1999. Trade (+900 jobs), local government (+612 jobs), services (+323 jobs), and a rebounding construction industry (+303 jobs) account for most growth in the last decade. The area’s employment base is well balanced between industry, distribution, services, and government. While Kenai’s employment base is diversified, the city draws its highest paying jobs from the oil and gas industry.
Oil and Natural Gas Industry
The Cook Inlet Basin has historically been one of the
nation’s most productive oil and natural gas provinces.
Production to date amounts to almost 1.3 billion barrels of oil
and 9.2 trillion cubic feet of gas. Oil production peaked in
1970 at 82.4 million barrels, and has fallen steadily since to
its current production level of 11.4 million barrels in 2002.
Cook Inlet natural gas production has remained fairly level for
the past decade at an average of 200 billion cubic feet per
year. The main end users for Cook Inlet gas production are the
ConocoPhillips LNG plant, the Agrium ammonia-urea plant,
electric power production, and natural gas utilities.
A recent review of proven Cook Inlet natural gas supplies concluded that industrial consumption of Cook Inlet gas will soon need to be curtailed unless additional reserves are developed. Without substantial new reserves, gas consumption for gas utilities and power production will likely take priority over industrial uses. This prospect has prompted renewed exploration for natural gas in the Cook Inlet Basin. Construction of a North Slope natural gas pipeline to the lower 48 states with a spur pipeline to Cook Inlet, or an All-Alaska pipeline to the Cook Inlet Basin in support of a new or expanded LNG plant may offer a long term solution in the next decade to extend the economic life of local value-added industrial facilities that rely on natural gas.
Commercial fisheries/seafood processing
Commercial fishing and the seafood processing industry are the foundation of Kenai’s modern economy and for many years its mainstay. However, declining harvests, weak markets, depressed product prices, and seasonal labor shortages has recently troubled the local industry. Industry revenues and profits have declined, seafood processing employment has fallen, a long-time major local processing plant has closed, and processing capacity is reduced. The optimistic industry outlook for the foreseeable future is stabilization at current levels.
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Photo by Eric Massey |
In 2004, Upper Cook Inlet (UCI) commercial fishermen harvested approximately 5.8 million salmon, with approximately 5.0 million of these being sockeye, or red salmon, which represented nearly 12% of the total sockeye salmon harvest statewide. Valued at approximately $21 million (exvessel value), the 2004 harvest was the most valuable since 1997. The average exvessel value by decade shows that from 1980 to 1989 the average value of UCI commercial fishery was $47 million and from 1990 to 1999 it was $33 million. The 2004 sockeye salmon harvest comprised approximately 94% of the total dollar value taken from UCI. The runs of king, chum, silver, and pink salmon round out the harvest and also contribute to a booming sport fishery in the Kenai River.
Numerous processing plants operate within the Kenai area, processing salmon, herring, halibut, and razor clams. Due to Kenai’s central location and fine road and air transportation, the plants are also utilized for processing fish from Bristol Bay and other regions throughout the state.
The commercial salmon industry in UCI has in recent years changed their focus from one that was primarily quantity oriented to placing a more significant emphasis on product quality. As much as 80% of the UCI catch is now sold in U.S. domestic markets, with 15% to Canadian markets and 5% to European markets. Very little to none of the UCI salmon is canned. Truly Kenai’s people are committed to the fishery as an on-going renewable resource and as an investment in the future of the community.
Visitor industry
The Kenai Peninsula Borough’s visitor industry directly supports a variety of local businesses, accounting for more than $6 million in direct sales annually. Visitor numbers have leveled off in recent years. Visitor patterns in Alaska are highly seasonal. The summer months are by far the heaviest months for the visitor industry. Kenai Landing and several other area businesses are bringing a whole new dimension to the level of service offered in Kenai for tourists.
For more information about tourism in Kenai, please contact the Kenai Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Health Care
The Kenai area benefits from the services of Central
Peninsula Hospital’s Kenai Health Center, a satellite facility
offering diagnostic imaging and lab services, located at 630
Barnacle Way in Kenai.
Central Peninsula Hospital & Heritage Place, eleven miles from Kenai, provides a variety of primary medical care to the Central Peninsula area residents. It is a progressive, Planetree-affiliated, community hospital & continuing care facility with a highly trained, compassionate staff. In 2003, voters approved a $49.9 million expansion that adds a two-story bed tower and approximately 85,000 s.f. to the current facility. The hospital has a full range of services and the capacity to care for the entire family, from the newborn to the geriatric patient. In addition to a 24-hour emergency department, the hospital has a complete family birth center, intensive care unit, medical-surgical unit, outpatient surgery department and an oncology and infusion center. Ancillary services include laboratory, physical medicine, cardiopulmonary, a sleep disorder center and a state-of-the-art imaging department including CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, ultrasound, mammography. An advanced communication center at the hospital links ambulances, physicians and air-to-ground radio. A helicopter landing pad is available to receive or transport patients.
Residential Chemical Dependency treatments is provided through Serenity House Treatment Center, offering a private place for healing located between Kenai and Soldotna.
Private, professional practices in Kenai offer a number of Physicians, Physician Assistants, Dentists, Optometrists, and Chiropractors.
Central Peninsula Hospital:
49 beds and
71 MDs on Staff
105 Registered Nurses
24 Hour Emergency Department
Visit: www.cpgh.org
Phone: (907)-714-4404
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