Wyoming pays more than $161M in unemployment benefits in 2009, most since 1982

Wyoming 2009 unemployment benefits top $161M

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming paid out more than $161 million in unemployment benefits last year, the highest amount since 1982, according to the state Department of Employment.

More than 37,300 people lost their jobs in Wyoming in 2009 and collected unemployment insurance during the year, the department reported in the latest issue of its regular publication Labor Force Trends.

The benefits claims increased as Wyoming’s unemployment rate in December reached 7.5 percent, more than double the 3.4 percent rate a year earlier.

About two-thirds of all jobs lost in Wyoming last year were in mining and construction. It’s the flip side of how those sectors made Wyoming the top state for job growth from 2006 to 2008, said state economist Wenlin Liu.

“Now, when Wyoming’s having a recession, it’s also driven by these two industries,” Liu said Monday.

An additional 4,713 people in mining received unemployment benefits in 2009 compared with 2008, for an increase of 340 percent. Even more people lost their jobs in construction, which accounted for an additional 5,155 people receiving benefits, up 92 percent.

Wyoming entered the recession about a year after everyone else. The state’s recovery won’t lag a year behind, Liu said, but Wyoming still isn’t likely to see a full job recovery for a couple more years.

“But clearly the layoffs are declining and the unemployment rate is peaking or has peaked” at around 7.5 percent, Liu said.

Wyoming’s unemployment trust fund is doing reasonably well despite last year’s payout. The fund had $180 million left at the end of 2009, enough for at least a year and a half even if 2009’s job losses continued, the report said.

As of Feb. 1, 27 states had to take out loans from the federal government because their unemployment insurance trust funds had run out.

Wyoming’s average weekly unemployment benefit was $346 last year, up 14.6 percent from 2008 and more than double the $137 average in 1982.

Almost 60 percent of those collecting unemployment last year had only a high school education; 10 percent had less. Eight percent had an associate’s degree and 9 percent a bachelor’s degree or higher.

About one-fifth of recipients last year were not Wyoming residents, up from about 16 percent in 2008. Most worked in either construction, mining, or accommodation and food services.