Unemployment low to close 2021

Alexis Barker
NLJ News Editor
 
Weston County closed out 2021 with the second-lowest unemployment rate in the state – 1.7%, according to the Jan. 24 report from the Research and Planning office of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. 
“Teton County reported the lowest unemployment rate at 1.6%. It was followed by Weston County at 1.7% and Albany, Crook, Goshen and Niobrara counties, each at 1.8%,” the report states, noting that the highest unemployment rates were found in Natrona County (3.1%), Sublette County (2.9%) and Sweetwater County (2.9%). 
Statewide, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.3% in December from 3.7% in November. 
“Wyoming’s unemployment rate has been trending downward for several months and is much lower than its December 2020 level of 5.2%,” the report says. “Seasonally adjusted employment of Wyoming residents rose by 913 individuals (0.3%) from November to December as more people went back to work.” 
Removing the seasonal adjustment, the
unemployment rate across the state is reported to be 2.4%. 
Seasonal adjustment is a statistical procedure to remove the impact of normal regularly recurring events, such as weather, major holidays and the opening and closing of school, for economic time series to better understand changes in economic conditions from month to month, according to the report. 
Locally, the unemployment rate remained the same from November to December, although the labor force dropped 30 people from 3,831 to 3,801. The number of employed individuals out of that labor force was 3,735 in December, leaving 66 people in the county’s labor force unemployed. 
Statewide, the labor force is reported to be 290,223 with 6,852 of those individuals being unemployed in December. 
“From December 2020 to December 2021, jobless rates fell in every county,” the report says. “These decreases represent a return to more normal levels after the pandemic caused unemployment rates to be unusually high in December 2020.”
While Weston County did not experience one of the most significant decreases in the state, unemployment did drop from 3.4% to 1.7% year over year. 
Nationally, the unemployment rate in December remained higher than the statewide rate with a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.9% and a regular unemployment rate of 3.7%. 
The first report for 2022, which will include January’s employment statistics, will be released on March 7.