Wyoming unemployment jumps LARAMIE, WY (wpr) - Wyoming saw a big jump in its unemployment rate last month - from six-point-eight percent in September... to seven-point-four percent in October. The state tied with Alaska for the highest monthly unemployment increase in the nation. Some observers are saying the reason is a slowdown in the oil and gas industry. But University of Wyoming economist Rob Godby says that probably isn't it.... because oil and gas already slowed down earlier this year.
"My personal take is it's our boom-bust cycle and we really only have one horse and that horse faltered in the spring. We had our energy and construction hit early in the year, and that went through to about mid-summer, and now I think we're just having general recessionary trends, and slow-business elsewhere means slow business in Wyoming."
Meanwhile Wyoming's Unemployment Insurance Division reports it's getting so many calls that the average minimum wait time to speak to a representative is now 30 minutes. That's the longest wait in history for the division.
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