Unemployment still trending down

Unemployment continues to trend downwards across Wyoming, including in Crook County. The latest figures from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services show the unemployment rates to have ticked down another small notch, from 1.9% in November to 1.8% in December.

It’s a tiny improvement in itself, but a continuation of the positive trend that has seen unemployment here halve since the same time last year.

In December, 2020, at the height of the pandemic, 3.5% of the Crook County population was unemployed.

Crook County continues to have one of the best rates of employment in the state, tying with Albany, Goshen and Niobrara for third place. Teton County tops the list at 1.6%, followed by Weston County at 1.7%.

Overall, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate sat at 3.3% in December, a decrease from 3.7% the month before. The number of jobless people fell in every county over the year, which the Department of Workforce Services attributes to a “return to more normal levels after the pandemic caused unemployment rates to be unusually high.”

The report notes that the largest decreases in employment can be found in key energy-producing counties. Campbell County’s rate, for example, fell from 6.2% in December, 2020 to 2.7% at the same time in 2021.