Star-Tribune Editorial Board

Last week's report on nonresident workers sharpens the focus on a key choice for Wyoming. Will we use our energy boom to build long-term prosperity, or will we export it, in the form of paychecks taken home by out-of-staters?

The report from the state Employment Department wasn't particularly surprising.We all knew Wyoming's gangbuster economy was attracting transient labor. But we didn't know the extent of the trend. Nearly 22 percent of Wyoming's jobs, including 60 percent of Wyoming's new minerals industry jobs since 2004, have gone to workers who live elsewhere.

Some people may feel resentment toward the out-of-staters for this. That's the wrong reaction. Each visiting worker has made a tough economic decision to adopt a grueling lifestyle: temporary housing, long commutes, divided families.

These people need jobs. Moving their families to Wyoming is impractical for many, because housing is scarce. They can't be blamed for obeying the irresistible laws of supply and demand.

Even so, no one can deny the harmful effects of this trend. Out-of-state workers pay no state income tax, because Wyoming has none. They pay no property tax, except indirectly, through their rent. They pay some sales tax, but less of that since Wyoming stopped taxing groceries.

More importantly, these transient workers aren't building Wyoming's communities. They generally don't join service clubs and churches. They generally don't volunteer for Meals on Wheels. They certainly don't raise Wyoming children to help build Wyoming's future.

Building our communities is important, because Wyoming's economic stability depends on it. As we've said many times, maintaining economic equilibrium aboard the energy market's roller-coaster requires a more diversified economy. That requires a labor pool for non-energy industries.

One way to build that labor pool is by persuading out-of-state workers to relocate their families. Someone who takes a Wyoming energy job might bring along a spouse to work in a hospital. Their children might graduate from our university and take jobs in other Wyoming industries.

None of that can happen without suitable, affordable housing for out-of-state families. Unfortunately, our state's political leadership has made no serious efforts on this issue.

Granted, Wyoming's conservative political philosophy favors free market solutions. But the free market has been a harsh mistress to Wyoming in the past. A little nudge from state government couldn't hurt.

So far the nudge hasn't been noticeable. The Legislature this year gutted a $30 million infrastructure program for affordable housing, leaving only a $1 million pilot loan program.

The real-world value of that program is negligible. It provides construction loans for qualifying projects, with a minimum interest rate of 1.5 percent. That's about a 7 percent discount from the current market rate of roughly 8.5 percent.

So the $1 million actually provides - at most - a paltry $70,000 construction incentive, spread across the entire state. The program is an empty gesture and a lost opportunity.

The Legislature will have to do better in the future, unless it is content to have Wyoming continue exporting its prosperity.

(Full disclosure: Star-Tribune Publisher Nathan Bekke is a member of the Wyoming Business Council, which was directed by the Legislature to develop the loan program rules and then administer the program.)