WHEATLAND –  The Wyoming Business Alliance met last Tuesday with local businesses for a “listening tour stop” in Platte County – the fourth of 23 the WBA will have over the next year across the state.
Chris Mickey, director of strategic partnerships and advocacy for the WBA, said the goal of the listening tour is to have a discussion with businesses across the state to discover what issues are preventing business growth in the Wyoming, as well as successes in the economic aspect of the communities that may not be well known. The information gathered at the listening tours will be compiled into a report which will be shared with the counties. The report will also guide the WBA in making decisions to help Wyoming businesses, to lobby the state and federal legislatures, and to help facilitate changes that benefit the communities and businesses across Wyoming.
A similar listening tour was conducted years ago by the WBA, and one notable thing Mickey said came of that tour was the Hathaway Scholarship.
“This is a grassroots list of where we are going, what are your needs and wants, how can we help make businesses prosper, and communities be a place where people want to live, play, and work,” Mickey said.
The focus of the listening tour was to hear from the businesses, but first, David Aadland, director of the Center for Business and Economic Analysis at the University of Wyoming, gave a presentation on economic statistics from Platte County covering the last few years. The economic picture of the county shows an average of 8,650 population with a trend of declining population. “That is not unlike other ag or rural communities in the U.S. many rural areas have an aging population because it is hard to keep young people here,” Aadland speculated.
The number of people of retirement age in Platte County is increasing, and currently just 46% of the population is of working age. In the labor force, there are 4,400 people actively working or looking, and just 3% of that workforce is unemployed. Those numbers have been declining over a period of years along with the declining population and increase of the numbers of people retiring.

“There’s not a lot of people looking for jobs; most people already have a job in the labor force,” Aadland said.
The GDP (gross domestic product) shows the value of what has been produced in Platte County. That number has not changed over the last few years with the exception of 2019, but Aadland said the forecast shows the GDP recovering and continuing to go up over time. (Aadland explained the numbers he showed were calculated with inflation taken out of the equation.)
Available housing is stable and slowly increasing, with a trend of single-family housing units being constructed in the last few years, and less multi-family structures.
“The takeaway is there is not a lot of growth in housing inventory, but that might make sense with the declining population,” Aadland said.
The largest employers are in the transportation and utility industry (the railroad and power plant, for instance) with 22% of the workforce; followed by leisure, hospitality and recreation industries (16%); the retail industries (15%); education and health services (12%). Though Wyoming is thought of as an ag-based economy, agriculture jobs account for just 9% employment numbers in the state; in Platte County the number is low enough it is included in the natural resources and mining category, which is 9%. Professional and business services (6%), construction (5%), financial activites (5%), manufacturing (2%) and information (1%) make up the remainder of the employment pie graph.
Future projections for the county (which Aadland reminded, are just that: estimates), show a continuing population decline “which will stabilize out at some point.”
During discussion with business members at the listening tour, it was stated, with the shrinking pool of applicants in Platte County, it has been difficult to hire workers for multiple positions – even when a business grows. There also can be challenges keeping younger workers who want different amenities than the local communities have provided. The inability to compete against higher-wage jobs in other regions of the country has been a challenge. It was suggested businesses could potentially offer incentives or bonuses to potential workers as a way to recruit them from other areas.
Discussion also included speculation of the economic future, and the need to prepare for growth in a smart way. An aging infrastructure was also cited as a distraction from being able to focus on planning for what the communities’ needs will be in five to 10 years. With various industries showing active interest in Platte County, there are realistic expectations there will eventually be growth in the county, and there needs to be a roadmap created to guide businesses and the communities in preparing for those changes.
Issues which have been holding back businesses from growth took up the majority of the listening session, but successes that need more recognition included the coming together of elected officials with economic development groups in the county. It was also stated there has been positive progress at the county level to make a business-friendly regulatory environment.
The WBA listening tour was sponsored by Cheyenne LEADS, and hosted locally by Platte County Economic Development and Platte Valley Bank.