The industry of state government has a much more stable workforce than other industries in Wyoming.  Nevertheless, it is not immune to the effects of the national labor market.  The current economic environment is such that there is competition for skilled workers, and the four occupations we studied reflect the pressures brought to bear by those larger economic forces.  As an employer, state government could experience greater turnover in occupations that are in high demand nationally.  Thus, we believe it is important to be able to look at turnover rates at the occupational level, not just for state government overall.

A process is needed to develop effective, targeted retention strategies.

During the 1990’s, the U.S. economy achieved unprecedented and record-breaking performance.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the U.S. economy will continue generating jobs for workers at all levels of education and training during the next decade.  Nationally, BLS projects significant job growth during the next decade in each of the occupations we evaluated.  BLS predicts that growth in various computer occupations will increase at least 70 percent through 2008.  Demand in the social worker occupation is expected to increase by 36 percent, correctional officers by 39 percent, and patrol officers by 32 percent. 

BLS also projects that many job openings during the next decade will result from the need to replace workers who leave the labor force or move to other occupations.  This trend may also affect Wyoming.  Wyoming’s labor market has been characterized by a fluid attachment of workers, wage levels below surrounding states, and low job growth.  Given this picture of Wyoming’s labor market, and barring dramatic changes, national labor market issues may cause Wyoming to experience an outflow of workers.  State economists forecast that over the next decade, the number of individuals leaving the state will exceed the number of people who move to Wyoming.

We believe there are compelling reasons to set in place a process that gives the state a better ability to monitor the real costs of turnover, both financial and intangible, so it is positioned to develop effective, targeted retention strategies.  This is needed both for the occupations we reviewed and for other high-risk occupations yet to be identified.  The process needn’t be expensive or time-consuming to administer; it should simply provide policymakers a more precise level of information about high-risk kinds of turnover and their true costs.