April News
by: David Bullard, Economist

"Wyoming’s unemployment rate fell significantly over the month, from 5.4 percent to 4.8 percent ... "

Employment in Wyoming continued to increase in April. A total of 1,600 new jobs were created for a growth rate of 0.7 percent. Industries with large gains include Construction (+500 jobs or 3.4%), business services (+400 jobs or 6.5%) and social services (+300 jobs or 5.7%). Manufacturing added 300 jobs (+2.9%) and Communications added 200 (+10.0%).

Mining led the list of declining industries with a loss of 300 jobs (down 1.8%). Of the 300 jobs lost in Mining, two-thirds were in oil & gas extraction, and one-third in nonmetallic minerals (the industry which includes trona mining). Government employment was also down in over-the-year comparisons (-300 jobs or 0.5%).

In spite of continued job losses in Mining, the gains in Construction and Manufacturing caused goods-producing industries to grow faster (1.2%) than service-producing industries (0.6%) in April.

Wyoming’s unemployment rate fell significantly over the month, from 5.4 percent to 4.8 percent. The decline in the number of unemployed from March to April (-1,509) appears to be associated with large over-the-month employment gains in Construction (+1,300), Trade (+800) and Manufacturing (+300). Continued Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims also fell from March to April (-3,953 or -19.7%).

The national unemployment rate remained below Wyoming’s at 4.1 percent. National job growth, at 2.1 percent, continued to outpace Wyoming’s growth at 0.7 percent. However, the Wyoming unemployment rate was lower than its April 1998 level of 5.1 percent.

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