New Wyoming Economic Report Offers More Good News
Wyoming economist Jim Robinson says a new economic report released on Thursday is the latest sign of a slow but steady economic recovery for the Cowboy State.
The Wyoming Economic Indicators report includes the Wyoming Business Cycle Index (WBCI), which tries to give an overall picture of the state's economic health.
There are four parts to the WBCI. They are unemployment, private sector weekly wages, mining taxes and national park visits. The last two components are aimed at measuring the state's two largest industries, mining (including oil and gas), and tourism.
Robinson says the WBCI index actually declined between May and June of this year, going from a score of 100.90 to 100.66. But he says that decline is too small to be significant, adding the more important comparison is between June of 2017 and a year later.
The index score rose by 2.02 percent over that period. He says a deeper comparison also shows improvement in all four categories measured by the WBCI, which is also good news.