Proportion under $15/hr
¦FIBER
60%
Figure 1.
Proportion of Logging Industry Jobs Earning Under $15 Per Hour by Occupation
50%
SOURCE: FORISK CONSULTING
40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Admin
Truck Drivers
Maintenance
Road Crews Woods Workers
Foresters
FORISK Wood Fiber Review:
Delivered Fiber Prices, the Logging Industry and $15 Minimum Wage
I
BY ANDREW COPLEY AND SHAWN BAKER
Geographically, the effects of a federal minimum wage hike are not uniform. In the Pacific Northwest, far fewer employees earn under $15 per hour than in Appalachia or the South. The average payroll increase for a western logging business would be $1,200 per year while an average Appalachian logging business would add nearly $10,000 per year (Figure 2). Again, these costs would not be felt uniformly within a region. Larger, well-capitalized businesses with higher average pay rates would have few increases, while smaller businesses would likely need to raise pay for a greater proportion of their staff. While it is difficult to determine how the logging industry might react to the wage hike, the last recession showed woods
US$/green ton
n forestry, the iron goes to the resource—firms build mills near trees. But what kinds of mills get built and when? This depends on consumer demand and the health of the economy. For mills to manufacture the building, paper and bioenergy products demanded by consumers, a functioning wood supply chain is needed—a steady, localized harvest and delivery of logs. This link in the supply chain relies on tens of thousands of hardworking loggers and truck drivers around the country. Recent proposals suggested raising the $7.25 federal minimum wage, which has not been changed since 2009, to $15 an hour. The impacts of such an increase on the supply chain and, ultimately, fiber prices vary by region. Nationally, the median hourly wage of logging busi50 ness employees was $20.46 in 2019. While logging jobs 45 are often associated with the men and women harvest40 ing the trees and delivering them to mills, there are many 35 other critical support jobs in the industry. It is these jobs 30 that are among the lowest paid (Figure 1). Of the 10,000 jobs in logging businesses earning less than $15 per hour, 25 roughly 7,000 are in-woods workers (equipment opera20 tors, timber fallers, etc.) or truck drivers. The remaining 15 3,000 are in other roles. Nearly half of the administrative 10 and office support jobs in logging earn less than $15 per 5 hour. Around 20% of the repair and maintenance staff, as 0 well as road-building crews, are also under the threshold.
Southeast Northeast South Central Lake States Northwest
Figure 2.
Average Payroll Increase Per Logging Business and Employee by Region SOURCE: FORISK CONSULTING
1Q/16
3Q
1Q/17
3Q
1Q/18
3Q
1Q/19
3Q
1Q/20
3Q
CONTRIBUTION: The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biomass Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).
28 BIOMASS MAGAZINE | ISSUE 2, 2021
1Q/21
