Anchorage sees potential in startups as a way to diversify Mountains in Seward, Alaska, less than a three-hour drive from Anchorage. Alaska’s cities advertise lifestyle perks to draw new talent. Economic diversification can be difficult for oil-rich U.S. states. That’s even more true if you’re isolated and partly situated on a frozen tundra. Welcome to Alaska’s reality. Alaska’s gross domestic product has been falling since 2012, and it’s been hemorrhaging jobs i n mining and logging, the largest single sector of its economy, amid a years-long oil price slump. Today, it has the highest unemployment rate of any state, at 6.7 percent. As its economy struggles, both the state government and regional and city administrators are pushing to create new industries in the land that likes to call itself the “last frontier.” Several show promise — the state development office is looking at shellfish, peony cultivation and craft beer […]