The last time the number of Wyoming jobs and total payroll decreased from their year-ago levels, George H.W. Bush was president in 1989.

But in the first three months of 2009, that bleak statistic became the state’s economic reality.

Last month, a Wyoming Department of Employment report showed a 1.3-percent decrease in payroll and a 1.1-percent decrease in employment.

Lincoln County led declines with a 30-percent drop in payroll dollars comparing the first quarters of 2008 and 2009. Carbon County was next with a 24-percent drop. Teton County had a 6.8-percent drop in payroll although it shed 1,111 jobs between 2008 and 2009 – the biggest employment loss for any county in the state. More than 500 of those lost jobs were in lodging and food service.

Sublette County, insulated by energy development, fared much better with a net gain of 534 jobs. Even so, signs of harder times were etched into the data. Between January 2009 and March 2009, the county lost 282 energy-related jobs.

During that period, the energy industry was the top payroll provider totaling $44 million. In second place, the government (local, state and federal) had a payroll of $11 million.

Unlike Teton County’s tourism-based economy that employs many low-wage workers, Sublette County’s energy-based economy employs fewer people at much higher wages. That makes a loss of 282 jobs in three months considerably more significant to payroll numbers than an equal number of jobs in Teton County.

Luckily as of August, Sublette County’s 4.4-percent unemployment rate remains third lowest in the state behind Albany and Teton counties.

Earlier this month, the national unemployment rate reached 10.2-percent, the highest since 1983.



For the complete article see the 11-17-2009 issue.

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