CASPER — Mining outpaced all other Wyoming industries for job growth from the last quarter of 2021 to the same time in 2022, a recent report from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services found.

The sector — which includes oil and gas — grew by a total of 9.1%, or 1,454 jobs. Manufacturing and professional services (which refer to white-collar jobs, like lawyers or accountants) pulled in the second- and third-most new jobs, respectively. Manufacturing increased by 5.1%, or 509 positions; and jobs in professional services rose by 3.6% and brought in 728 new workers.

Other sectors included in the report recorded the following changes to their workforces:

• the leisure and hospitality industry, which includes tourism, increased by 2.3% or 798 jobs;

• local government jobs, which include positions at hospitals, public schools and colleges, increased by 1.6% or 733 jobs;

• state government shrank by about 0.9%, for a loss of 113 jobs; and

• construction shrank by about 0.7%, for a loss of 153 jobs.

Over that time period, Wyoming gained a total of 5,292 workers, with total payroll rising by $58.8 million. Jobs grew in 17 counties and decreased in five.

In Washakie County, however, the number of jobs stayed flat, the report said.

Proportionally, Teton County’s workforce grew by the most — reporting a 5.4% increase, or 1,154 additional workers. But its total payroll in the fourth quarter of 2022 was over $70 million less what it was over the same period of 2021.

That decrease may have been due to “large bonuses” paid out in 2021 that weren’t issued at the end of 2022, the report said. The county gained nearly 500 jobs in the leisure and hospital sector, and also recorded increases in construction, local government, professional services and retail.

Jobs in Natrona County grew at a net increase of 3.8%, or 1,434 positions. Total payroll jumped 9%, or $48.3 million. Most of the growth in Natrona County was in mining, which added more than 500 positions, according to the report. Nearly every other sector aside from retail gained workers in the county.

Jobs in Laramie County fell by 695 from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the same time in 2022, or 1.5% overall. The county’s payroll dropped $11.7 million, which is a difference of 1.7%. The greatest job cuts were in the construction industry, which fell by 900 jobs. Additional job losses were reported in areas including local government, transportation and warehousing, housing and retail, the report said. Laramie County did, however, report growth in the mining, leisure and hospitality, manufacturing and health care and social services industries.

The state still hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels of employment. As of late 2022, Wyoming still had 3,600 fewer jobs than it did in late 2019, the report found.