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, mass layoffs, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.

Employment, Unemployment, and Layoffs

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2009
Nov.
2009
Dec.
2009
Jan.
2010

Employment (in thousands)

 

Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)

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348.4 348.6 (P) 349.1 (P) 348.4

Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)

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268.9 269.8 (P) 270.1 (P) 271.1

Unemployment

 

Unemployment rate

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12.6% 9.5% 14.5% 17.0%

Layoffs

 

Mass layoff events

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41 40 40  

Initial claimants for unemployment benefits

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4,326 3,505 3,218  

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Mass Layoff Statistics)

Extended Mass Layoffs

Data series Back
data
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009
2nd quarter
2009
3rd quarter
2009

Extended mass layoff events

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99 91 (P) 41 (P) 19

Separations

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14,482 11,039 (P) 4,542 (P) 1,604

Initial claimants

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19,658 14,625 (P) 5,977 (P) 1,690

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Mass Layoff Statistics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series Employment,
2008

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

14,400

Carpenters

20,360

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

17,700

Machine feeders and offbearers

17,670

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

36,590

Team assemblers

48,430

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

52,650

(Source: Occupational Employment 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
Oct.
2009
Nov.
2009
Dec.
2009
Jan.
2010

Average hourly earnings

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$17.68 $17.78 (P) $17.83 (P) $17.60

Average weekly hours

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37.5 38.1 (P) 38.2 (P) 38.9

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series Back
data
Oct.
2009
Nov.
2009
Dec.
2009
Jan.
2010

Average hourly earnings

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$15.09 $15.18 (P) $15.16 (P) $14.97

Average weekly hours

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37.6 38.2 (P) 38.4 (P) 39.2

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series Wages, 2008
Hourly Annual
Median Mean Median Mean

Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters

$13.66 $14.46 $28,410 $30,080

Carpenters

$14.21 $15.51 $29,560 $32,270

First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers

$21.88 $22.99 $45,520 $47,810

Machine feeders and offbearers

$11.40 $11.83 $23,710 $24,610

Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood

$12.15 $12.70 $25,260 $26,420

Team assemblers

$11.86 $12.47 $24,660 $25,940

Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing

$11.68 $12.20 $24,300 $25,370

(Source: Occupational Employment 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 2005 2006 2007 2008

Fatalities

 

Number of fatalities

38 36 40 (P) 27

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

 

Total recordable cases

9.4 8.5 7.8 7.2

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

5.2 4.7 4.1 3.8

Cases involving days away from work

2.5 2.3 2.1 2.0

Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction

2.7 2.4 2.0 1.8

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(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
Sep.
2009
Oct.
2009
Nov.
2009
Dec.
2009

Producer price index

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(P) 103.7 (P) 103.1 (P) 103.6 (P) 103.6

Percent change from previous month

  (P) 0.5% (P) -0.6% (P) 0.5% (P) 0.0%

Import index

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(R) 94.4 (R) 94.1 (R) 93.8 96.1

Percent change from previous month

  (R) -0.4% (R) -0.3% (R) -0.3% (R) 2.5%

Export index

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(R) 107.0 (R) 107.7 (R) 108.5 109.3

Percent change from previous month

  (R) 0.7% (R) 0.7% (R) 0.7% (R) 0.7%

Footnotes
(R) Revised
(P) Preliminary

(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
3rd quarter
2008
4th quarter
2008
1st quarter
2009
2nd quarter
2009

Number of establishments

 

Private industry

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17,064 16,947 (P) 16,610 (P) 16,470

Local government

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7 7 (P) 9 (P) 9

Footnotes
(P) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

Data series Back
data
2004 2005 2006 2007

Labor productivity index, output per hour

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102.246 107.587 110.870 111.197

Percent change from previous year

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0.7 5.2 3.1 0.3

Labor index, total labor hours

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100.176 101.588 99.429 92.126

Percent change from previous year

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1.9 1.4 -2.1 -7.3

Output index

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102.426 109.295 110.237 102.441

Percent change from previous year

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2.6 6.7 0.9 -7.1

Unit labor costs index

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103.879 102.759 105.357 112.217

Percent change from previous year

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5.4 -1.1 2.5 6.5

(Source: Productivity and Costs)

Other BLS Resources

Career Guide to Industries

To learn about careers from an industry perspective, see the Career Guide to Industries.

 

Data extracted on: February 09, 2010