Star-Tribune Editorial Board

There's good news and bad news for Wyoming workers this Labor Day 2008.

First, the good:

- The state's unemployment rate is among the lowest in the nation. If you want a job in Wyoming, it's not hard to find one.

- Workers here are making more money. Data released Friday showed that Wyoming's median household income jumped 5.4 percent between 2006 and 2007, the fastest in the country, to $51,731. That puts us above the national average for the first time since 1984.

- Wyoming lawmakers are taking the first thorough look in years at the state's workers' compensation program, aiming to determine whether workers who get hurt on the job are receiving fair compensation and benefits.

- Our personal tax loads remain amazingly low when compared with even other Western states.

Now, the bad:

- Much of workers' increased income is being eaten up by inflation. The annual statewide inflation rate topped 6.1 percent in 2007, the highest since the early '80s and higher than the national rate of 4.1 percent. That's not including an expected big increase in home heating costs this winter.

- Wyoming set a record last year for the number of workers killed on the job. A total of 48 workers died in job-related accidents, an increase of 33 percent from 2006.

- In much of the state, property taxes are rising significantly as home values increase.

- The state's earnings gap between men and women remains the largest in the nation.

Depending upon how you want to look at this information, the glass is either half full or half empty for the Wyoming worker. But when you compare Wyoming's economy with the rest of the nation, you realize we're actually quite fortunate to be in these circumstances.

The availability of jobs is especially noteworthy, especially when you consider how things were about a decade ago.

In 2007, a Wyoming Department of Employment report noted that the problem of declining wages that had dogged the state economy since 1990 had grown so bad that the state could no longer keep its population. More people were leaving the state than entering it, and the work force was shrinking along with wages. The declines in Wyoming stood in sharp contrast to an otherwise healthy national economy.

My, how times have changed.

Now, the state's biggest problems include an inability to attract enough workers, and difficulty in finding places where they can afford to live. When compared with a decade ago, those are good problems to have. They are problems, though, and state and local leaders have a responsibility to address them.

Of course, this is all because our economy is based on energy production. High world demand for coal, oil and natural gas has created our relative prosperity. A new report issued last week quantified the Wyoming economy's dependence on oil and gas, and the numbers, while not surprising, were nonetheless staggering.

The world energy demand picture shows no reason to expect a bust in Wyoming anytime soon. That's good news. But the state must find a way to build on the minerals industry base and diversify so that if an energy downturn does come, we don't return to the struggles of the '90s.

A more diverse economy would also provide a wider array of job opportunities in the state. Then, Wyoming workers would really have something to celebrate.