A new report released on 27 June 2008 by the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry will provide the Tasmanian community with more accurate information about the forest industry than was previously available.

The report, Forestry, jobs and spending: forest industry employment and expenditure in Tasmania, 2005-06, provides a detailed picture of the Tasmanian forest industry, including the number and types of businesses in the industry, and the employment and spending generated by the industry.

Author Dr Jacki Schirmer today said that the report provides a comprehensive understanding of where forestry jobs are located in Tasmania and the types of employment generated by the industry.

“Figures given in the report are based on a comprehensive survey of the industry, which for the first time included the many small contracting businesses that undertake a considerable amount of work in forestry in Tasmania,” said Dr Schirmer.

Dr Schirmer will present these findings at a public seminar on Friday 27 June, at 12:30pm.

The report is the result of a survey of Tasmanian forestry businesses which will be repeated later this year and again in 2010.

Key findings of the report include that:

• Total expenditure by the Tasmanian forest industry in 2005-06 was between $1.42-1.6 billion.
• Expenditure and employment by the forest industry is highest in the NRM North region, with 41 per cent of employment and expenditure by the forest industry occurring in this region.
• The Tasmanian forestry industry in 2006 involved more than 500 businesses, including over 50 forest growers and processing businesses, and over 400 businesses involved in contracting work for the industry.
• Six thousand three hundred people were employed in the Tasmanian forest industry in 2005-06. This equated to 5,870 full-time equivalent employees when part-time and casual employment was taken into account. This represented 3 per cent of Tasmania’s employed labour force in August 2006.
• The Tasmanian local government areas with the highest proportion of their workforce employed in forestry are Derwent Valley (32 per cent of the labour force works in forestry), Dorset (23 per cent), Kentish (19 per cent), Central Highlands (13 per cent), Huon Valley (9 per cent), Georgetown (9 per cent), Glamorgan-Spring Bay (8.5 per cent), and Circular Head (7.5 per cent). In all other local government areas, less than 6 per cent of employment is directly dependent on the forest industry.
• Hobart and Launceston are the local government areas with the highest number of forestry workers, with over 760 forest industry workers working in Hobart and 1,150 in Launceston. Because of the large workforce in these cities, forest industry workers make up 1 per cent of the Hobart workforce and 3 per cent of the Launceston workforce.
• In general, the forest industry has a higher proportion of full-time employment than the Tasmanian workforce as a whole, and a lower proportion of part-time and casual employment.
• The forest industry has a much higher proportion of male workers and lower proportion of female workers than the Tasmanian average. In August 2006, 88 per cent of forest industry workers were male and 12 per cent were female
• Forest industry workers are younger than the average for the Tasmanian workforce.

A summary report and the full report will be available here from Friday 27 June.