The economic life of Wyoming is largely sustained by agriculture—chiefly feed grains and livestock—and mining, including petroleum and gas production. Mining and petroleum production mushroomed during the 1970s, leading to a powerful upsurge in population. In the early 1980s, unemployment remained low, per capita income was high, and the inflation rate declined. The absence of personal and corporate income taxes helped foster a favorable business climate during the 1990s. The state economy's annual growth rate accelerated coming into the 21st century, from 1.1% in 1998 to 3.6% in 1999 to 12.3% in 2000. Not heavily involved in the information technology (IT) boom of the 1990s, Wyoming was relatively unaffected by its bust in 2001, registering annual growth of 6.8% for the year. The main growth sectors have been various categories of services, with output from general services up 37.9% 1997 to 2001; from trade, up 29.1%; from the government sector, up 24.3%, and from financial services, up 23.6%.
In 2001, Wyoming's gross state product gross state product was $20.4 billion, the 3rd-smallest among the states, to which government contributed $2.8 billion; transportation and public utilities, $2.6 billion; general services, $2.4 billion; financial services, $2.35 billion; trade, $2.3 billion; manufacturing, $1.5 billion; and construction, $1.1 billion. The public sector in 2001 constituted 13.7% of gross state product, above the 12% average for the states.