September News
by: Mike Evans, Bureau of Labor Statistics Program Supervisor

"Oil & gas extraction (-5.8%) and manufacturing of petroleum, coal & plastics (-7.7%) are the only industries with substantial loss of jobs over the year."

Wyoming’s rate of total nonagricultural employment growth increased 1.5 percent (3,500 jobs) in September when compared with September 1998, while employed labor force increased 1.3 percent (2,960 people).

The unemployment rate remained at 3.7 percent from August 1999 and decreased slightly from 3.9 percent in September 1998. It remained below the national average of 4.1 percent for the third month in a row, although the seasonally adjusted rate of 4.6 percent for September is higher than the national average of 4.2 percent due to the seasonal nature of the Wyoming economy. Unemployment insurance initial and continued claims data continued showing decreases from the previous year by 18.7 and 5.5 percent, respectively.

Employment growth continues in the Construction industry with 1,000 more jobs than the previous year (5.7%) and Service industry with 1,500 jobs (2.8%), while specific industries like general building contractors (11.9%), telephone communications (10.0%), heavy construction (7.4%), and business services (7.1%) having the largest increases over the previous year. Oil & gas extraction (-5.8%) and manufacturing of petroleum, coal & plastics (-7.7%) are the only industries with substantial loss of jobs over the year.

Casper (3.9%) and Cheyenne (2.2%) continue to have strong job growth over the previous year, with the majority of Casper’s growth in Construction (30.0%) and personal & business services (10.5%). This is due to housing construction and new business formation.

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