Wyoming Employment and Education

Wyoming has a strong economy. Their unemployment rate is lower than last year and is currently at 3%. Overall earnings were up 2.7% and over 8,000 new jobs were issued this year. Wyoming is first in coal production in the United States and they also take second in wool production and third in sheep and lamb inventory. Wyoming has the largest coal mine in the USA, called Black Thunder by the city of Wright. Tourism is also a big part of the state’s economy, and in 2002, over six million people visited Wyoming’s national parks and monuments. The Cowboy state is the nation’s home to rodeo. There are many old western towns and other cowboy attractions across the state.

Wyoming Education

Wyoming has a strong education program throughout the state. They have developed their own testing system called Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students (PAWS). This testing system allows them to test children and assess what they need to relearn, individually. Tests results are received within a month and then the parents and teachers can better help children pick up what they haven’t retained and improve their individual results. NAEP testing shows that Wyoming students are doing improving on testing results, especially in reading. From 2003 to 2005, there was a jump in both fourth grade and eighth grade reading levels (from 69-79% for 4th grade, and from 71% to 81% of basic skills in 8th grade).