This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
Wyoming’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in April, down from a 3.6% rate that held steady from January through March.
The Wyoming Department of Workforce Services calls it “modestly higher” than April of last year’s 3.2%, but adds Wyoming’s rate is “considerably lower” than the U.S.’s 4.3% rate for April.
Wyoming sees its unemployment rate fall in the summer as construction, business services and tourism season hit high gear. A notable aberration from that pattern arrived with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when Wyoming’s unemployment rate shot up to 8.7% in May. It didn’t dip below 4% until October of 2021, according to Federal Reserve Economic Data.
Wyoming’s job growth slowed in 2025, according to the department, with employment levels falling below prior-year levels during the last two quarters.
“The number of individuals receiving Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits increased for the second consecutive year, but remained below pre-pandemic levels dating back to at least 1997, the first year for which comparable data are available,” senior economist Matthew Halama wrote. “The total amount of benefits paid increased for the third consecutive year.”
About 7% more unemployed Wyomingites received UI benefits in 2025 compared to 2024.
Construction accounted for more than a quarter of all UI recipients in 2025, followed by accommodation and food services, administrative and waste services, and healthcare and social assistance.
About 8% of Wyoming’s UI recipients claimed their benefits out-of-state, a small increase.
Also increasing in 2025 were the number of weeks recipients claimed UI, up from 10.1 in 2024 to 10.4 in 2025. A higher average weeks claimed is one of the metrics that indicates people are having a more difficult time finding new employment after job losses.
By the dollars, in 2025, UI benefit recipients in Wyoming were paid a total of $59.5 million, including $56.2 million from the state UI trust fund and $3.3 million from other UI funds. That’s a $7.8 million, or 15.1%, increase over 2024.
