As far as unemployment claims in the state, the worst may have passed, according to Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Director Robin Cooley.

Nearly 3,500 new unemployment insurance claims were filed last week statewide, along with more than twice as many renewed claims. Cooley said the department is seeing an “evening off” of filed claims, but numbers are not declining yet. About 10% of the state’s workforce was unemployed as of April. Wyoming’s unemployment spiked from 3.8% in March to 9.2% in April, but the state still had the fifth-lowest unemployment rate in the nation. As a whole, the U.S. rate rose to 14.7%.

Both renewed and new initial claims have plateaued since March, when the department saw a sharp influx in unemployment benefit claims, Cooley told the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Friday.

“It has been plateaued now for the past two weeks, which does give me a level of comfort that maybe we’ve seen — for unemployment purposes — we’ve seen the worst of it and now we’re coming down just a bit with those numbers,” Cooley said.

There were 1,408 workers who were unemployed in Park County in April — up from 752 the month before — for an unemployment rate of 9.5%, according to state data. Those figures almost certainly rose in May, as hundreds of additional local workers filed for unemployment benefits. State data indicates that the number of new claims in Park County peaked at 295 in the week ending March 21 and has headed downward since then, dipping to 74 new claims for the week ending May 23. Still, that’s significantly more than the 16 to 51 weekly claims per week that the Department of Workforce Services was seeing from January to mid-March.

Workforce Services’ new focus is supplying an additional 13 weeks of unemployment assistance for claimants quickly, Cooley told the legislative committee. The department is also collaborating with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to provide guidance for bringing employees back into the workplace safely.

Cooley acknowledged recent fraud issues through the department, including 152 ID theft claims since May 13. Most fraud situations have been stopped in collaboration with banks and monitored payments — monetary loss averages $18,000, she said.

As staff continue to focus on fraud monitoring, COVID-related discrimination claims and resolving minor technical issues, Cooley said the next phase for Workforce Services will turn to re-employment.

Workforce program teams applied for an emergency dislocated worker grant of $200,000 — a sum which will be combined with other funding streams — to kick off assistance for those furloughed during the pandemic, missed work to care for family or could not appropriately distance at work and stayed home. 

State and federal unemployment trust funds remain “healthy” with $51 million of untouched money in the state fund and $350 million in the federal fund, Cooley said.

Rep. Scott Clem, R-Gillette, questioned how long the state can continue along its current path, depending on May unemployment projections. Clem attributed Wyoming’s strength compared to other states to Gov. Mark Gordon’s resistance to implementing a stay at home order early on in the pandemic.

While a reliable “burn rate” has yet to be determined, Cooley said initial numbers indicate the state can continue sustainably on current projections for several years.

(Tribune Editor CJ Baker contributed reporting.)