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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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)	414.6	413.6	(p)412.8	(p)412.5
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)	322.6	322.5	(p)322.2	(p)322.0
Unemployment
Unemployment rate	3.9%	1.5%	2.6%	7.6%
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey

Employment by Occupation


Data series	Employment, 2023
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	7,820
Carpenters	11,120
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	16,660
Machine feeders and offbearers	6,260
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	32,410
Team assemblers	68,120
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	40,300

(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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$27.62	$27.88	(p)$28.01	(p)$28.04
Average weekly hours	40.2	40.4	(p)40.5	(p)40.9
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees


Data series	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Average hourly earnings	$23.98	$23.92	(p)$23.99	(p)$24.06
Average weekly hours	40.5	40.9	(p)41.1	(p)40.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation


Data series	Wages, 2023
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters	21.20	21.41	44,090	44,530
Carpenters	19.65	21.03	40,870	43,740
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers	28.67	30.43	59,630	63,290
Machine feeders and offbearers	18.69	18.91	38,880	39,320
Sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood	18.17	19.18	37,800	39,890
Team assemblers	18.18	18.79	37,820	39,090
Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing	18.23	19.20	37,920	39,930

(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	2023
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	4.8
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	2.9
Cases involving days away from work	1.5
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	Aug. 2024	Sep. 2024	Oct. 2024	Nov. 2024
Producer price index	(p)180.420	(p)180.921	(p)181.464	(p)183.506
Percent change from previous month	(p)0.1%	(p)0.3%	(p)0.3%	(p)1.1%
Import index
Percent change from previous month
Export index	125.0	124.8	125.3	126.0
Percent change from previous month	0.6%	-0.2%	0.4%	0.6%
Footnotes (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	3rd quarter 2023	4th quarter 2023	1st quarter 2024	2nd quarter 2024
Number of establishments
Private industry	16,136	16,158	(p)16,275	(p)16,321
Local government	5	5	(p)5	(p)5
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

Productivity

This section presents productivity and related data for the industry, presented as the percent change from the previous year. Measures of labor productivity, or output per hour, compare the growth in output to the growth in hours worked. Growth in unit labor costs represent the annual change in the labor cost of producing one unit of output.


Data series	2020	2021	2022	2023
Labor productivity, output per hour	9.7	-4.0	-2.5	-6.6
Hours worked	-9.4	7.1	1.8	-0.3
Output	-0.6	2.8	-0.7	-6.9
Unit labor costs	1.2	9.8	13.4	7.6

(Source: Productivity)

Data extracted on: December 13, 2024