How many people are employed by the private forestry industry?
It is difficult to accurately assess the number of people employed in the private forestry industry because much of the labour is seasonal contract labour and statistics are not collected separately for the industry by the ABS. Our estimates are that there are approximately 840 full time equivalent jobs directly engaged in silviculture, harvesting, chipping, transport and export operations. These jobs involve operators of modern tree harvesting (130) and log handling equipment, truck drivers (80) and supervisors. The equipment requires maintenance (10) and supplies of materials (5). Roads require upgrading and maintenance (5). Transporting woodchips to port and loading the ships (20). There are also increased jobs in planning and managing the new operations (40). Employment in modern forest harvesting is challenging and rewarding work. Extensive training is involved to ensure operators are aware of the environmental and safety aspects of their work as well as being skilled in the effic
