Employment and wage impacts of timber harvesting and processing in the United States

Abstract

Each unit of timber has some number of jobs and income associated with it. We developed regional estimates of employment per million cubic feet of timber harvested, referred to as employment direct response coefficients (DRCs), and wages per worker in 16 sectors of the US primary forest products industry. Estimates are based on timber product output and federal employment data. These estimates offer comparisons of direct timber processing employment associated with various sectors and geographic regions. They also provide potentially more accurate direct impacts that can be used in conjunction with input-output analysis to estimate indirect and induced impacts. Results show substantial differences among regions and industry sectors. The lowest employment DRCs among timber processing sectors are in the biomass energy and oriented-strandboard sectors. The hardwood plywood/veneer, log home, and log furniture sectors have the highest employment ratios. Workers in the pulp and paper sector are among the highest paid in the forest products industry. The capital intensity of the facilities, the variety of products produced, and the degree of manufacturing contribute to ratio differences among sectors and regions.