Compiled by WEN Staff

Wednesday’s jobs report shows Wyoming’s employment slowed in February, but it still managed to increase faster than in any other state. Over the year, the state added 4,200 jobs, for a growth rate of 1.5 percent. However, it was the slowest pace since October 2004. According to the report, job losses occurred in construction, manufacturing, retail trade, and professional and business services.

Reflecting the slowdown in oil and gas activity, the January to February seasonal employment pattern in Wyoming increased by only 100 jobs, compared to a normal year of roughly 1,400 jobs.

David Bullard, senior economist for the state Department of Employment’s Research and Planning Section, said in addition to broader job losses, “unemployment is higher in every county than a year ago.” The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent in February, up from 3.7 percent in January. But it remained the lowest in the nation.

Big Horn and Lincoln counties had the highest unemployment rate
at 7.2 percent. The lowest were in Sublette and Albany
counties, at 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent respectively.

Several sectors in Wyoming added jobs in February when compared
to a year earlier, including government (3,200 jobs), education
and health services (900 jobs), and natural resources and
mining (800 jobs).

Also yesterday, the Denver-based Goss Institute of Economic
Research said its Wyoming business conditions index stayed
below growth neutral for the fourth consecutive month in March
for the first time since the survey of supply managers began in
1994. The index, a leading economic indicator, points to weaker
economic conditions ahead. It dipped to 40.8 in March, down
from 44.8 in February, but up from 35.3 in January. A number
less than 50 indicates economic contraction over the next three
to six months.

Individual components of the March index were new orders at
27.5, production at 30.2, delivery lead time at 64.4,
inventories at 38.8 and employment at 42.7.

“Between the beginning of the national recession in December
2007 and February 2008, Wyoming gained more than 6,000 jobs,”
Creighton University Economics Professor Ernie Goss said in a
press release. “However, the state has begun shedding jobs in
2009. Our job indices over the past several months are
consistent with an additional 8,000 jobs lost by the end the
third quarter of this year.”