Wyoming's Economic Analysis Division says the first quarter of 2021 included major losses in jobs and revenue from the previous year. Places like Niobrara, Converse and Campbell counties experienced huge drops in sales and use taxes.
The Division's Chief Economist Weinlin Liu noted that the first quarter of 2021 saw almost 16,000 fewer jobs, mostly in the energy industry, which led to an overall decline of sales and use taxes by almost 5 percent. However, non-mineral economies, especially Teton and Albany counties, gained roughly 30 percent gains from the previous year. Liu said that was due to federal stimulus money which also drove up personal income by more than 11 percent.
Since that time, Liu noted that Wyoming’s energy prices have increased and things look much better.
"You know oil and gas has been really slowly recovering, but finally over the past two weeks the number of rigs are increasing," said Liu. "We will see that taxable sales from that industry will increase."
Liu said when you couple that with solid gains in tourism and continued positive signs in the retail sector, things are looking better economically for the state.