From June-September 1995, Steven Butler, a graduate student in Sociology at the University of Wyoming, tracked UW graduates into the Wyoming work-force, under a contract with the State of Wyoming. Data were provided by the University's Office of Institutional Analysis and the Office of Registration and Records, as well as by the Department of Employment's Research & Planning, which provided the employment data (wage record data; see "Wyoming Unemployment Insurance Wage Record Summary Statistics Update" for an example of this type of information).

The following is an excerpt from Steven Butler's report, which is titled "Tracking University of Wyoming Graduates Into the Wyoming Work-force". A limited number of copies of this report are available from Research & Planning. The report studied University of Wyoming graduates earning degrees from 1983 through 1993 and checked these individuals against the Wyoming Unemployment Insurance covered employees from 1992 through 1994.

Much more data is covered in the report than can be mentioned here, including information regarding degree type; work-force location and GPA; college major and work-force participation; earnings data by year graduated; degree type and major; and industry information for graduates in the Wyoming work-force. The following selection is titled "Year Graduated and Work-force Participation".

The chart ("Worked or Not Worked in Wyoming 1992-94 by Year Grad") represents the file Graduates-All divided up by year graduated and then ranked as having appeared or not appeared in the employment data. The most notable feature is the steady increase through time, from 83-92, of graduates appearing in the work data. Those graduating in the early and mid-eighties are substantially less likely to appear than those graduating in the late eighties or early nineties. One factor for this consistent increase through the 11 years is the fact that the University of Wyoming has graduated more students each year. But the number of graduates appearing in the work-force data cannot be totally explained by this increase in total graduates. From 1983 to 1993 the total number of graduates has increased by a factor of 1.58, but over this same period of time, the number of graduates appearing in the work-force has increased by a factor 3.32. There are some possible explanations of this phenomena: 1) UW graduates are filtering out of the Wyoming work-force over time. 2) Some graduates who have been in the work-force for a while, are returning to school for more education. 3) The recession of the early eighties resulted in fewer job openings in Wyoming. 4) Newly graduated students are reluctant to relocate out-of-state. 5) Not finding work within their chosen careers, new graduates are simply taking any kind of work available locally and then later on finding work in their respective fields out-of-state.

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