Sarah Frank, special to the Star-Tribune

Laurie Watkins, center, talks with Brian Montague and fiancee Stacey Yarbrough, who live in the Lansing, Mich., area and are thinking of relocating to Wyoming. Watkins, who works for Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, was part of a group of Wyoming businesses and economic development agencies recruiting Michigan workers Tuesday.

LANSING, Mich. - Michelle Hanneman and her sister, Sherri Norton, are fed up with Michigan's economy.

The sisters, who live in small towns outside the state's capital city, have felt the pinch of a troubled automobile industry that once thrived.

Norton was laid off on Jan. 1 from TRW Automotive, an auto parts manufacturer. Her sister, who also works for TRW, was told she'll likely see her pink slip in July.

They visited a Holiday Inn here on Tuesday looking for some help. Inside a small banquet room were several Wyoming companies and economic development agencies looking for folks just like the sisters - people from manufacturing and machinist backgrounds in need of work.

Organized in part by the Casper Area Economic Development Alliance, several Wyoming groups packed up this week for a visit to economically hurting areas in Michigan: Flint, Lansing and Jackson.

All three metropolitan areas have been hit hard in recent years by automobile plant layoffs, closings and relocations.

"I've researched all over Michigan, and I know there's nothing available for me," said Hanneman, a mother of two. "When you hear there's jobs and opportunities for our kids and our future in Wyoming, you start to think about Wyoming."

Christopher Manegold, president and CEO of CAEDA, who once lived in Jackson, said the visit to Michigan was prompted by the auto industry layoffs.

"The industrial skills people in Michigan have are very comparable to the skills that are needed by the energy companies in Wyoming," Manegold said.

The economic group focused on mechanics, welders, electricians, truck drivers, nurses and construction workers.

Wyoming recruiters said they saw close to 600 people on Monday in Flint, a city that has faced years of problems from General Motors layoffs, plant closings and relocations. About 200 people showed up at the Lansing event, and Manegold says he hopes for a similar turnout in Jackson, the group's last stop.

Representatives from the agencies said they were using Wyoming's job availability, lack of personal income tax, climate and wide-open spaces to attract Michigan workers more than 1,000 miles west.

Interested workers were able to drop off resumes, fill out job applications and register for a statewide job bank.

Greg Chavez of Grand Rapids, a city of 200,000 residents one hour northwest of Lansing, said he's seriously thinking about moving from Michigan and spent two and a half hours Tuesday learning about the jobs that might be available for him in Wyoming.

He works as a janitor in a public school, has been laid off once and said he feels insecure with his job stability.

"I'm just barely surviving," Chavez, 40, said. "I can't do it anymore. I'm afraid if I get laid off again, I'll lose my house."

For Ada Hamilton, a Lansing resident who has worked retail for years, it wasn't Wyoming that lured her to the recruitment event, but rather the prospects of jobs - anywhere.

"I'm tired of Michigan," said the 40-year-old, who's originally from Detroit. Her interest was a mix of dissatisfaction with Michigan's economy and a desire to look for a place to eventually retire.

"I'm looking for a new state, and being here and talking to everyone, it looks beautiful, but for a while I was thinking, 'Wyoming? Where the heck is Wyoming?'"

Hamilton said she hoped the economic development agencies she spoke with would provide help with relocation expenses, as some larger companies do.

Several booths featured photographs of Wyoming's outdoors and pamphlets on leisure activities such as hunting and fishing - something Michiganders are often drawn toward.

"We're telling people all about the hunting and the fishing and the horses," said Laurie Watkins, director of admissions for Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs. "But we also tell them, if you don't like that kind of stuff, you're probably not going to be happy in a town of 22,000 in southwest Wyoming. The job has to work for them, but the lifestyle has to work for them, too."

Wyoming lifestyle, not Michigan's economy, drew Jamey Brecht and his wife of two years, Sarah, to the job fair.

"We have pretty good jobs here," Jamey Brecht said. "We just want to get out of here. We live in a more rural area, and now everyone from the cities is moving in - it's no longer country."

The two looked at real estate advertisements and set a goal for their move out West. "Hopefully within two years," Jamey Brecht said, "we'll be there hunting and fishing and living."

In all, 13 people from Wyoming traveled to Michigan for the recruitment trip, including representatives of Wyoming's Department of Workforce Services, Campbell County Economic Development Corp., Gillette Campus, P&H MinePro Services and Casper College.