County economy shows promise

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
Recent reports from the Wyoming Department of Revenue and the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services show that unemployment rates in Weston County continue to decline while taxable sales within the county are on the rise. 
According to the report from the Research and Planning section of the Department of Workforce Services, released on Dec. 21, the county experienced a drop in the unemployment rate from October to November in 2018, as well as from November 2017 to November 2018. 
The unemployment rate for Wyoming rose slightly from October to November of 2018, 3.5 percent to 3.8 percent. The year-over-year rate for November, however, shows the state unemployment rate dropped from 4.0 percent to 3.8 percent. The national unemployment rate held steady at 3.5 percent in November, down from 3.9 percent at the same time in 2017. 
“From October to November, most county unemployment rates followed their normal seasonal pattern and increased,” the report states, the largest of those increases occurred in Teton County (up from 2.6 percent to 5.9 percent), Park County (up from 3.7 percent to 4.5 percent) and Lincoln County (up from 3.1 percent to 3.6 percent). 
Weston County, on the other hand, shows a drop from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent from October to November, equivalent to a 0.1 percent decrease. Crook County also experienced a decrease during the same time from 2.9 to 2.8 percent, while Natrona stayed the same at 4.2 percent and Platte County increased from 2.8 percent to 3.0 percent. 
“From November 2017 to November 2018, unemployment rates fell in 14 counties, rose in 7 counties and remained unchanged in Laramie and Park counties,” the report states. “The largest decreases were seen in Weston (down from 3.8 percent to 3.0 percent), Converse (down 3.9 percent to 3.2 percent), and Natrona (down from 4.7 percent to 4.2 percent) counties.” 
The report also says that the number of unemployed persons in the county dropped from 143 in November 2017 to 114 in October and November 2018. 
According to Wenlin Liu, chief economist with the State of Wyoming Economic Analysis Division, with the unemployment rate holding steady at around 4 percent in the state, the labor market is definitely tight. 
“Many businesses in many sectors of the economy are experiencing difficulties to hire skilled workers,” Liu said. “However, it’s interesting that the U.S. civilian labor force participation rate for the 25-to-54-age population even declined over time since the late 1990s.” 
In addition, Liu noted that the wage growth rate since the economic recovery began in 2010 has been slow, although in recent months strong wage gains are finally showing. He notes that this is probably due to the lasting low unemployment rate in the state. 
Another sign of good economic conditions in the county is the fact that, according to the Wyoming Department of Revenue, taxable sales in the county increased 23.1 percent from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018. 
“The increase was mostly from the mineral extraction industry, which is definitely related to the oil drilling in the Powder River Basin,” Liu said. “The mineral exploration activities also triggered into other industries, such as wholesale trade, retail trade, utilities and restaurant and lodging.” 
According to a breakdown of taxable sales in Weston County, provided by Liu, mining, including oil and gas extraction, was up 165.5 percent. This is equal to an increase of $183,751. 
The report also notes that wholesale trade increased 36.5 percent, or $17,591, while retail trade was up 7.8 percent, or $26,023. According to Liu, utilities were also up 9.2 percent and leisure and hospitality, mainly restaurants and lodging, were up 9.9 percent. 
Industries experiencing significant decreases were financial activity, including auto, machinery and equipment leasing, at 12.8 percent or a loss of $2,174 and educational and health services dropping by 67.1 percent, or $195.