According to Breitbart.
""Jobs,
Under Palin’s leadership, Alaska was 2nd in job growth, and 3rd in the change in its unemployment rate, compared to the other states. Alaska also saw a record number of oil jobs in both 2008 and 2009, while natural resource and logging jobs increased 13.7% during Palin’s tenure.""
""Palin cut state spending between 2007 and 2010 by 9.5% while also reducing federal earmark requests by more than 80% during her tenure. She used her line-item veto to cut more than a quarter billion in superfluous spending in both 2007 and 2008. In 2009, she instituted a temporary hiring freeze, while at the same time reducing spending by more than 33% between FY2009 and FY2010.""
""Long before state pension fund liabilities became a topic of national debate and crisis, Palin reformed Alaska’s pension program by ensuring a successful transition from defined benefits to a defined contribution program to address the $8 billion unfunded liability in the program, making it more solvent and leading to a decrease of 34.6% in state liabilities during her tenure.
In stark contrast to President Obama and other governors whose fiscal records are dogged by credit downgrades, Palin left Alaska with an improved credit rating during and following her tenure as governor. Standard & Poor’s raised Alaska’s credit rating from AA to AA+ in April 2008. Then in 2010, both Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s upgraded Alaska to AAA for the first time in the state’s history due to policies enacted by Palin that made the state’s finances more than solvent.""
Others may disagree -
Unemployment 20% Higher Under Palin while Big Oil in the State Achieves Record Profits
Unemployment under Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has soared during her tenure as Governor. Alaska’s unemployment rate is now 20% higher than the national average. Additionally, Alaska now has one of the top 10 unemployment rates in the nation.
Despite record profits for oil companies drilling in Alaska, unemployment has continued to soar. $7.6 billion of the estimated $8.5 billion in Alaska’s state tax revenue comes from fees paid by oil companies. (source: Artvoice.com). Additionally, Sarah Palin has recently stated that “it’s God’s will that we drill.” However, corruption and payoffs by big oil have been rampant in the Alaskan government, with the convicted former chairman of a major oil company having spread $400,000 throughout Alaska’s government (including to Sarah Palin’s campaign). Palin was previously in charge of Alaska’s Office of Oil Affairs.
http://labor.alaska.gov/news/2010/news10-16.pdf
You can see the uptick in unemployment after the massive new oil taxes went into effect.
I think this is one of those you will see what you want to see.
I see higher taxes, less oil, fewer jobs and an economy in hurt.
Reports of declining North Slope employment in 2009 were accurate. Over an 11 month period beginning in December 2008, North Slope employment fell by 1,200 jobs, a 13 percent decline...
(http://www.mcdowellgroup.net/pdf/publications/NorthSlope_JobsReport.pdf)
]It’s getting a bit better now, and the taxes have been lowered. But the real good money jobs are gone, likely to never return.
North Dakota now produces more oil than Alaska. For lower cost - if the trend continues, Alaska may be come the largest ghost town in America.