Forest industry employment

Why is this indicator important?

The Canadian forest industry is a major employer nationwide, particularly in many rural communities, where forest-related work is often the main source of income.

What has changed?

In 2011, direct employment in the Canadian forest industry fell slightly, by 1.8%, compared with 2010 levels.

Employment in wood product manufacturing, which has the largest share of employment in the Canadian forest industry (48.4%), remained largely unchanged from one year to the next, while employment in pulp and paper product manufacturing increased by 1.6%.

In contrast, employment in forestry and logging declined sharply, by 17.3%, and in support activities declined slightly, by 0.2%.

The main short-term factors contributing to the decline in forest industry employment were the ongoing weakness of the U.S. housing market, increases in labour productivity, and ongoing consolidation among service providers for trucking, logging and silvicultural activities.

Housing starts in the U.S. improved by 3.7% in 2011 over 2010, boosting demand for Canadian lumber and wood panel products somewhat, but full recovery is not expected before 2015.

Lumber exports to China and other overseas markets also helped bolster employment in the solid wood sector.

The growth of forest product exports to overseas destinations, most notably China, has helped sustain employment opportunities in the pulp and paper industry, offsetting declining North American demand for printing paper grades.

Table displays direct employment, indirect and induced employment and the total employment for the years 2001 and 2011 in person-years.

Employment (person‑years) in the forest industry, 2001 and 2011
Employment 2001 2011
Direct 343 800 233 900
Indirect and induceda 530 000 360 600
Total 873 800 594 500

a Estimate calculated by the Canadian Forest Service based on data from Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, March 2012 (special extraction)

Table displays direct employment by forest-related subsectors and total as (1) person-years in 2011, (2) percentage change from the previous year and (3) as average annual percentage change over the previous ten years.

Direct employment in the forest industry, by forest-related subsector, 2011
Subsector Employment (person‑years) Percentage change from previous yeara Average annual percentage change over previous 10 yearsb
Wood product manufacturing 112 300 0.0 -3.6
Pulp and paper manufacturing 75 100 1.6 -3,6
Forestry and logging 26 400 -17,3 -6.4
Forest industry support activities 20 000 -0.2 -1.1
Totalc 233 900 -1.8 -3.8

a Percentage change calculated based on raw data.
b The period 2001–2011
c Total differs due to rounding.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, March 2012 (special extraction)

Forest industry direct employment, 2001-2011

Graph displays direct employment in the forest industry in thousands of jobs for each year between 2001 and 2011 for: wood product manufacturing, pulp and paper product manufacturing, forestry and logging, support activities for forestry and total forest industry.

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, March 2012 (special extraction)
Long description (includes data table)