The Wyoming Economic Indicator report was released for the month of August, and it details various unemployment rates for Casper, Wyoming, and beyond.

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To determine the Wyoming Economic Health Index, the State of Wyoming's Economic Analysis Division combines four state-level economic indicators into one average, in order to sum up current economic conditions for the state.

These four indicators are: the monthly unemployment rate, monthly total non-farm employment, monthly sales and use tax collections from the mining sector, and monthly sales and use tax collections from lodging.

Based on these indicators, Wyoming has shown year-over-year increases in three of the last six months. The most notable of these facts is that Wyoming's unemployment rate in June of 2021 is lower than it was the previous June.

In June of 2021, Wyoming's unemployment rate was 5.4%, which is the same rate that it was in May of 2021, but it is lower than the rate of 7.4% in June of 2020.

Similarly, Wyoming's unemployment rate is lower than the national average of 5.9%. Total non-farm payroll jobs in Wyoming amounted to 272,000 if June of 2021, which is higher than the number in June of 2020 by 8,200 jobs.

Due in part to the COVID-19 vaccine and more and more businesses opening up, Wyoming Sales and Use Tax Collections from the mining sector have begun to rebound from the previous year, as it is up by $1.0 million (or 26.3%) as compared to June of 2020. Similarly, Wyoming's Sales and Use Tax Collections from the lodging sector yielded $4.4 million; an increase of 150.9% from June of 2020. The economic report indicates that the past three months of the year (April-June) have recorded year-over-year increases of over over %100.

Casper, however, is still struggling a bit. Though the unemployment rate for Natrona County (7.4%) is lower than it was in June of 2020 (10.3%), it is still higher than the state-wide unemployment rate, which is 5.6%.

Still, the economic report notes that by June of 2021, Natrona County was able to recover approximately 38% of the 3,900 jobs that were lost during "the worst parts of the pandemic."

To learn more about these numbers, or to see the reports themselves, visit the links below:

Casper Economic Indicators: August 2021

Wyoming Economic Indicators: August 2021

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