Department of Labor Logo United States Department of Labor
Dot gov

The .gov means it's official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Wood Product Manufacturing: NAICS 321

About the Wood Product Manufacturing subsector

The wood product manufacturing subsector is part of the manufacturing sector.

Industries in the Wood Product Manufacturing subsector manufacture wood products, such as lumber, plywood, veneers, wood containers, wood flooring, wood trusses, manufactured homes (i.e., mobile homes), and prefabricated wood buildings. The production processes of the Wood Product Manufacturing subsector include sawing, planing, shaping, laminating, and assembling of wood products starting from logs that are cut into bolts, or lumber that then may be further cut, or shaped by lathes or other shaping tools. The lumber or other transformed wood shapes may also be subsequently planed or smoothed, and assembled into finished products, such as wood containers. The Wood Product Manufacturing subsector includes establishments that make wood products from logs and bolts that are sawed and shaped, and establishments that purchase sawed lumber and make wood products. With the exception of sawmills and wood preservation establishments, the establishments are grouped into industries mainly based on the specific products manufactured.

North American Industry Classification System

The wood product manufacturing subsector consists of these industry groups:

  • Sawmills and Wood Preservation: NAICS 3211
  • Veneer, Plywood, and Engineered Wood Product Manufacturing: NAICS 3212
  • Other Wood Product Manufacturing: NAICS 3219

Workforce Statistics

This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in wood product manufacturing. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment and Unemployment

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Employment (in thousands)

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

415.1 414.3 (p)414.0 (p)415.6

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

319.0 317.9 (p)316.6 (p)318.6

Unemployment

Unemployment rate

4.4% 1.6% 6.7% 4.6%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2022

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

8,660

Carpenters

12,130

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

16,510

Machine feeders and offbearers

6,960

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

34,480

Team assemblers

66,760

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

40,980

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Projections

For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for wood product manufacturing.

(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)

Earnings and Hours

This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in wood product manufacturing.

Earnings and Hours of All Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$27.02 $26.98 (p)$26.98 (p)$27.06

Average weekly hours

39.9 40.0 (p)40.0 (p)40.4

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Average hourly earnings

$23.30 $23.33 (p)$23.43 (p)$23.43

Average weekly hours

40.7 40.6 (p)40.4 (p)41.1

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2022
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

18.83 19.83 39,170 41,240

Carpenters

18.30 19.69 38,060 40,960

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

27.56 29.04 57,330 60,400

Machine feeders and offbearers

17.83 18.11 37,090 37,670

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

17.43 17.94 36,240 37,320

Team assemblers

17.54 17.54 36,490 36,490

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

17.63 18.15 36,670 37,740

(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)

Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses

This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in wood product manufacturing. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.

Data series 2019 2020 2021 2022

Fatalities

Number of fatalities

24 35 36 30

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series 2022

Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers

Total recordable cases

5.3

Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer

3.2

Cases involving days away from work

1.8

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

1.4

Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)

Prices

This section provides industry-specific pricing information. The producer price index measures the percentage change in prices that domestic producers receive for goods and services. The prices included in the producer price index are from the first commercial transaction. The import price index reflects the percentage change in prices paid to foreign producers for their goods and services within the U.S., while the export price index measures the percentage change in prices received by U.S. producers for goods and services sold outside the U.S.

Data series Back
data
Nov.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024

Producer price index

(p)180.738 (p)181.472 (p)181.607 (p)182.792

Percent change from previous month

  (p)-0.8% (p)0.4% (p)0.1% (p)0.7%

Import index

       

Percent change from previous month

         

Export index

(r)116.9 (r)117.4 (r)118.3 117.7

Percent change from previous month

  (r)0.5% (r)0.4% (r)0.8% (r)-0.5%

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary
(r) Revised

(Source: Producer Price Indexes, International Price Program)

Workplace Trends

This section presents data on the number of establishments in wood product manufacturing. Also included in this section is information on productivity, presented as the rate of change in output per hour of workers in the industry.

Establishments

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2022
1st quarter
2023
2nd quarter
2023
3rd quarter
2023

Number of establishments

Private industry

15,813 (p)16,008 (p)16,044 (p)16,191

Local government

5 (p)5 (p)5 (p)5

Footnotes
(p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2019 2020 2021 2022

Labor productivity index, output per hour

93.594 102.158 97.696 95.400

Percent change from previous year

-6.6 9.2 -4.4 -2.4

Labor index, total labor hours

123.495 112.469 120.960 123.233

Percent change from previous year

3.1 -8.9 7.5 1.9

Output index

115.584 114.896 118.173 117.564

Percent change from previous year

-3.7 -0.6 2.9 -0.5

Unit labor costs index

122.515 123.971 136.101 160.211

Percent change from previous year

5.6 1.2 9.8 17.7

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

 

Data extracted on: March 22, 2024