Experts share economic outlook for Wyoming

“On one hand, we make it really easy to start entities in Wyoming. And that’s a great plus for entrepreneurs. But there are also some bad actors that are emerging that give us a black eye. But then there were also some folks that said that even though we’re very business-friendly, there’s not a lot of road mapping for businesses.”

Local business owners and corporate decision makers gathered at the Blue Community Events Center to hear Alexander and other leading economists offer their economic outlook locally, regionally and nationally.

The event opened with a panel discussion between Alexander and Nicholas Sly, a regional economist from the Denver branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City representing Wyoming, Colorado and northern New Mexico. They were followed by a presentation offering a national perspective from Curtis Dubay, chief economist in the Economic Policy Division at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“We don’t have a negative attitude in our community, but we have some concern about what’s coming at us,” said Dale Steenbergen, president and CEO of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce, who helped organize the event. “So, I think we gave people a lot of good information to arm themselves with this morning.”

When he was deciding who would speak at this year’s panel for the fifth annual event, it was important to him to have local, regional and national representation.

Dubay was able to speak to the concerns expressed by some of the biggest firms in the nation to the U.S. Chamber.

“He’s considered to be one of the premier economists from a business standpoint in the country,” Steenbergen said. “I’m very lucky to be able to get him to share with our people.”

Some of the biggest concerns expressed by the attendees dealt with interest rates and federal reserve policies that deeply impact business owners. Steenbergen was excited to have leadership from the Federal Reserve out of Denver to offer their belief and perspective on what was happening.

“The third part of the puzzle, for me, is for everything going on regionally or nationally, there needs to be a local touch to it,” Steenbergen said. “And I think nobody does a better job of that than Anne Alexander, keeping up with what’s specifically going on in Wyoming and what our challenges are and how they differ from some of that federal data.”

The outlook of the experts

Sly seconded Alexander’s views on the economy, but he noted that there is a certain level of optimism, as well. This is mainly due to the performance over the past six months, when the nation was expecting a recession but never had one.

In Wyoming, the least-populous state in the union, the biggest concerns discussed were the labor force, housing and the industrial sector.

“So, you don’t have enough workers and you don’t have enough housing for those workers. But we have all this production coming along,” Sly said. “That tension, that imbalance of supply and demand, is much more severe here than it is in other parts of the country.

“You’re seeing some of the movements in the prices of housing construction differently. So, to me, that highlight here tells me it still remains a key part of the economic narrative.”

Even though commodity and building material shipments are declining nationally, Sly said it remains stronger in Wyoming.

Nationally, Dubay said it could be challenging over the next few months, but he is optimistic longer term over the next few years.

“When we get past this period — the next six months to six to nine months, when inflation will still be an issue, when we’re still adjusting higher interest rates — everything looks pretty good after that,” Dubay said. “So, in the second half of 2024 and 2025, I just think it’s getting a heck of a lot better.”