Numbers point in two different directions. Our older workers are retiring in numbers greater than we’ve experienced before, including those who are retiring at a non-traditional age (i.e., under age 65); and the decline in millennials working in Wyoming is substantially greater than the decline in the state’s overall millennial population. There are several possible reasons for this...
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Labor Day is a day to celebrate the workers who keep our country running. They’re the ones who keep our businesses open and our economy strong. However, as I’ve visited policymakers, business owners and workers throughout the state, one question invariably pops up: Where have all the workers gone? We’ve all heard the phrases “the Great Resignation,” “quiet quitting,” “boomeranging,” “gig workers,” and other new terms to describe a new workforce and workplace. But what does this mean to businesses clamoring for help and workers still looking for employment?
There’s no question Wyoming is in a challenging position right now. Statistics from the Department of Workforce Services’ Research and Planning (R&P) division show: In 2000, older workers (those aged 55 and up) accounted for one in 10 people working in Wyoming at any time. In 2020, that number is one in five. To say that Wyoming’s workforce is aging at a much greater rate than its total population is in no way an exaggeration; Wyoming’s older resident population increased 76 percent over the last two decades, from 102,685 in 2000 to 181,073 in 2020. At the same time, there has been a steady decline in millennials working in Wyoming, from a peak of 121,654 in 2014 to 102,150 in 2020.
So, where are our workers going? Numbers point in two different directions. Our older workers are retiring in numbers greater than we’ve experienced before, including those who are retiring at a non-traditional age (i.e., under age 65); and the decline in millennials working in Wyoming is substantially greater than the decline in the state’s overall millennial population. There are several possible reasons for this:
But there is hope
Jeff Schulz, Wyoming Workforce Services program manager in Cheyenne, reports that we are slowly seeing numbers of job seekers increase in the center. In fact, August’s monthly job fair had the highest number of job seekers the Cheyenne center had ever seen.