ABSTRACT
Unemployment in rural Alaska is impossible to view through conventional statistical methods used to determine the American norm. Hope is present in the potential of the village corporations established under Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. There is little need for entrepreneurship on the part of the village corporation; but the potential for disruption of village life and the depletion or destruction of corporate assets is magnified, as are benefits if such development is successfully managed. In and of themselves they are meaningless without information regarding three additional factors: the income levels of village people, the village standard of living, and the real and potential growth of both the commercial and industrial sectors of the rural econony. The harsh climates, the low level of income, the scatter of populations, and the uniquely high costs of transportation, construction, and heating have held down the quality of housing.
