Editor's note: "This Week in Alaska Business History" revisits events that shaped our past.
"Those who cannot
remember the past are
condemned to repeat it."
-- George Santayana, 1863-1952
20 years ago this week
The Anchorage Times
Jan. 7, 1981
Southeast job market in decline
The Associated Press
JUNEAU -- The jobless rate in Alaska jumped more than a half-percent in November to 9.2 percent, with Southeast Alaska feeling the biggest pinch, the state Department of Labor reports.
The November figure, which is the latest available from the department, is considerably higher than the 8.5 percent unemployment reported a year ago and reflects an increase from the 8.6 percent rate in October.
A total of 16,932 workers were unemployed in November, out of a work force of 183,724, the department said.
In most areas of the state, the unemployment rate is higher than last year, but the difference is most marked in Southeast Alaska where unemployment in several areas is substantially higher than usual for this time of year.
The Anchorage Times
Jan. 8, 1981
Japan plans big study of Beluga coal
By John Knowlton
Times Writer
The Japanese government intends to spend $200 million in 1981 to try to solve the spontaneous combustion problem caused by shipping volatile Beluga coal, U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said today.
In a telephone interview with The Anchorage Times from Tokyo, Stevens said that expenditure indicates a "substantial interest" by the Japanese in acquiring Alaska coal.
"$200 million in one year to study the feasibility ought to indicate that there's a substantial amount of interest in Alaska coal."
Alaska's senior senator is on the last day of a 10-day trip to Asia where he met with Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese officials.
10 years ago this week
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Jan. 7, 1991
Battery venture hits KGB roadblock
By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce
A joint venture aimed at exporting batteries from the Soviet Union in exchange for food and other commodities in place of hard cash has official Soviet approval, but the Magadan KGB, so far at least, says "nyet."
So Earl Romans, owner of Alaskan Battery Enterprises Inc. in Fairbanks and a veteran of 30 years in the battery business, is getting ready for yet another trip to the Magadan region to try to resolve the problem. He also has written Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev requesting a hearing on the matter.
Romans and Valentin Tesvitkov, his joint venture partner in Magadan, have invested the equivalent of $50,000 in the new business, which has so far produced 6,000 auto, truck, diesel equipment and marine batteries at a rented factory in Magadan.
Alaska Journal of Commerce
Jan. 7, 1991
Fairbanks
Shopping malls on a big roll
By Al Geist
For the Journal of Commerce
FAIRBANKS -- Before construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, the Interior's largest city had a vibrant downtown and almost no malls. Today, almost 20 years later, almost 500,000 square feet of shopping malls surround the community, and the downtown core area is filled with vacant buildings.
There are many reasons for the decline of downtown Fairbanks and the growth of multistore shopping malls, but population shifts and the seductive convenience of "one-stop shopping," particularly during the winter, lead the list.
Fairbanks experienced a dramatic shift in population profile during the last recession. The many long-time residents who left Alaska in search of work elsewhere were replaced by military personnel and their dependents.
-- Compiled by Ed Bennett.
