Supporting Rural Wood Industry Through Timber Utilization Research

This report evaluates the potential impact of USDA Forest Service wood utilization and wood energy research on rural employment and income. Recent projections suggest employment will decrease in many forest products industries, such as softwood sawmilling but will eventually increase in softwood plywood and reconstituted panel mills. Forest products industries expected to provide wages exceeding the average manufacturing production wage include logging, softwood sawmills, millwork, softwood plywood-veneer, structural wood members, particleboard, wood partitions, pulp mills, paper mills, and paperboard mills. Industries expected to pay 90 percent of the average manufacturing production wage include wood kitchen cabinets, mobile homes, prefabricated wood buildings, and wood preservatives. Projected employment increases are virtually all in timber-oriented industries or industries oriented to both timber and end-use markets. Location of forest products mills in rural areas will be influenced by the need to minimize transportation costs. Research on design and performance of wood structures may lead to the greatest increase in employment by 2020. Research on pulp, paper, and paper-board recycling may also increase employment as less paper is imported and more paper with recycled paper content is produced in the United States. Research could lead to wood energy cost savings. If these cost savings were the same as a 3- to 5-percent increase in fossil fuel prices nationwide by 2010, this would produce a net increase of about 5,200 jobs/year and $87 million/year in net income nationwide. These potential job and income changes related to wood energy use include direct job gains in wood burning operations, indirect job gains in the consumer sector, and indirect job losses in fossil fuel supply and end use.

Categories:

• Business, Finance, and Economics

Pub ID:

Box ID: