Alaska’s labor officials are working with seafood processors in hope of putting Alaska residents into many of the 1,600 seasonal jobs needed to process the state’s 2015 commercial salmon and pollock harvests.
Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Heidi Drygas met with many of the largest seafood processors operating in Alaska in late April to discuss how they can increase Alaska hire through use of registered apprenticeships, work release programs and employment of returning citizens.
Now is the time for workers to be contacting their nearest Alaska Job Center to apply, said Nelson San Juan, an employment security specialist at the Seafood Employment Office in the Anchorage Midtown Job Center. These jobs provide an excellent opportunity for those who enjoy physical work, want to establish a work history, earn and save money quickly, and move up the career ladder, he said.
Seafood processers are continuing to recruit to fill more than 1,000 seafood-processing jobs for the Bristol Bay salmon season, in Naknek and Togiak.
Seafood firms in Dutch Harbor meanwhile are recruiting for more than 100 jobs processing pollock beginning in June. Salmon processors in Kenai hope to fill nearly 500 jobs from late June through mid-August.
The jobs are posted online at Alaska’s Labor Exchange System. They include higher paying skilled and technical positions. More information is available by calling the Anchorage Seafood Employment Office at 1-800-473-0688.