Equality State Policy Center's Research & Publications

2009 Wyoming Legislature - A Nuts & Bolts Session

How does the Wyoming Legislature affect you? Click here to read the full report.

Worker Unions Mean Better Wages

There clearly is a wage advantage to unionization. Although only about 8% of Wyoming’s workers are union members (an additional percent is represented by unions but are not union members under right-to-work), the median union wage is about six dollars an hour more than the median non-union wage. Read more...

Access to Health Care

The #1 economic worry for many Wyomingites is: What if I get sick? Nearly a fifth of the state’s population does not have health insurance, and many of the insured wonder how long they can afford premiums, co-pays, and charges not covered by their policies. Read more...

Updating “The State of Working Wyoming”

As we move into the Labor Day weekend and the fall, the Equality State Policy Center will update its February 2008 report, “The State Of Working Wyoming.” The original report, produced in cooperation with the Economic Analysis and Research Network (EARN) of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., looks at the state’s energy boom economy and considers the basic question of who benefits from the boom. The report provides information and statistics on the economic facts of life for Wyoming’s working families, including short sections about Wyoming’s tax structure; jobs, wages and personal income; economic self-sufficiency; minimum wage; tipped employees; gender wage gap; multiple jobholding; deaths and injuries on the job; “right to work”; health care; affordable housing; childcare; and the effects of the boom on Wyoming’s wildlife. The first update to the report focuses on access to health care and considers how Wyoming could use a proposal by The Commonwealth Fund to achieve access to affordable care for nearly everyone. Click here to download a PDF of the February report. You can see the updated report on healthcare and our Aug. 28 news release by clicking here.

Pulling apart – Economic equality declines

Middle and lower income families in Wyoming did not share equally in the state’s economic growth since the late 1980s. While families in the top fifth of Wyoming’s economic strata saw their incomes grow by 24.3% past two decades, incomes for families in the middle fifth grew by just 8%. Income of families in the lowest fifth stagnated. This economic pulling apart of Wyoming society threatens our economy and our political system. Click here to read more and access the ESPC’s press release and the research behind it.

The Wyoming LAP* Book

The Wyoming LAP* Book provides the general public with easily accessible information on the votes cast by legislators cast on the important issues facing the state, as well as data on the campaign contributions these legislators received.

During the 2008 legislative session, the ESPC will deliver a daily report describing happenings of particular interest on the bills it is tracking (see list below). Click on the bill name to go to an ESPC description of the bill, which in turn will link you to additional information on the Legislative Service Office’s website.

Earlier editions of The Wyoming LAP* Book remain on the ESPC website as a reference for previous legislative session proceedings and legislator voting records, as well as campaign contributions from previous elections. Click here to view archived editions.

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