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Wyoming continues to lose young people, census shows

Child-rearing couples looking for better jobs elsewhere continue to drain Wyoming of its youth, a demographics expert says.

The population of residents ages 5-17 fell by 8 percent from 2000 to 2003, according to the U.S. Census Bureau estimates. Only North Dakota, with a drop of 9.6 percent, lost more people in that age group.

Associated Press

http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/04/28/build/wyoming/40-losing-population.inc

Although oil and natural gas activity has been increasing, overall job growth has been slow. So the numbers of young couples – and their offspring – have dropped because of more attractive opportunities in neighboring states, according to state economist Wenlin Liu.

"In the past few years, it’s probably improving, but certainly in the second half of the ’90s as our national economy was booming and also Colorado, Utah and Idaho were booming, they did attract many of our younger work force," he said.

In the 15-44 age group, Wyoming lost 4,674 residents, or 2.2 percent, from 2000 to 2003, surpassed only by West Virginia (-3.2 percent) and North Dakota (-3.8 percent).

However, those 18-24 increased 11.9 percent, eighth-highest nationally.

Liu said many baby boomers – who were born from 1946 to 1964 – came to the state during the energy upswing of the 1970s and 1980s, and their children are now swelling the ranks of the young adults.

"Eighteen to 24-year-olds saw a big increase because they are the baby-boom kids," he said. "We hope that this group will stay.

"They graduate from college – How many can stay? It depends on the economy or how attractive are our neighbor states."

As baby boomers start to retire, beginning around 2010, the number of older citizens will rapidly increase, Liu said. Just since 2000, Wyomingites 65 and over increased 3.9 percent, a growth rate that ranked 19th in the United States.

Rep. Pete Illoway, R-Cheyenne, said a decline in the state’s youth has been evident from K-12 enrollment figures. According to state records, enrollment has dropped from 100,899 in 1993-94 to 81,551 this year.

"I don’t think this is a surprise," he said. "It’s not pleasing, but it confirms what we’ve been seeing."

Illoway is optimistic that $500 million approved by the Legislature for new construction projects, plus hundreds of millions in federal highway project money should jump-start the economy and bring young people back.

Additionally, lawmakers approved new money for local economic development and passed a tax break to entice manufacturing companies to relocate to Wyoming.

"I don’t know where you’re going to get the workers, so they’ve got to be imported," he said.

Overall, Wyoming’s population grew an estimated 1.5 percent from 2000 to 2003, which ranked 37th. Of its neighbors, only South Dakota had slower growth.

In 2003, Wyoming had an estimated 501,242 people – highest since 1984 – or 7,460 more since 2000. The national population grew by about 9.3 million, or 3.3 percent, to 290,809,777.

Western and Southern states registered the most growth, led by Nevada (12.2 percent), Arizona (8.8 percent), Florida (6.5 percent) and Georgia and Texas (6.1 percent).

North Dakota lost 1.3 percent. The slowest gainers were West Virginia (0.1 percent), Iowa and Louisiana (0.6 percent), and Pennsylvania and Ohio (0.7 percent).

Of Wyoming’s neighbors, Colorado grew by 5.8 percent, or sixth nationally, followed by Idaho (5.6 percent, seventh); Utah (5.3 percent, eighth); Montana (1.7 percent, 34th); Nebraska (1.6 percent, 36th) and South Dakota (0.8 percent, 38th).

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Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

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