Wyoming Unemployment Rate Drops to Lowest Since 2008

Wyoming's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent last month, down from 3.9 percent the month before, according to a new report from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services.

That's the lowest it has been since November 2008.

Last month's state jobless rate was also down from the April 2017 figure of 4.1 percent.

While neither decrease is especially large, Senior Economist David Bullard says the report is still "generally good news" for the state economy. He says one reason for that is the fact that even though the declines have been small, the latest report continues a trend of overall dropping unemployment over a period of several months.

He says the other good news is that the largest year-over-year decreases have happened in the state's largest energy producing counties.

Both Natrona [5.3 percent to 4.3 percent] and Campbell [4.9 percent to 3.9 percent] counties saw their unemployment rate fall by a full percentage point over that time. Sublette County's jobless rate fell from 4.6 percent to 3.9 percent, and Converse County saw it's unemployment fall from 4.2 percent to 3.5 percent in a year-over-year comparison.

The biggest year-over-year increase in unemployment was recorded in Big Horn County [up from 4.2 percent to 4.7 percent]. Overall, unemployment fell in 14 counties between April 2017 and last month and increased in eight.

Laramie County's unemployment was exactly the same last month as one year earlier at 3.4 percent.

You can read the full report here.