-
North Carolina has about 18.1 million acres of timberland covering about 58% of the state’s total land area.
- In 2017, the forest sector in North Carolina—including forestry and logging operations, sawmills, furniture mills, and pulp and paper industries—directly contributed $20 billion in industry output, just over 2% of the state-wide economic output. The forest sector employed over 71,600 people with a payroll of $4 billion and a value added (gross state product) of $5.6 billion.
- Including direct, indirect, and induced effects, the forest sector in North Carolina had a total contribution of $32.8 billion in industry output to the North Carolina economy, supporting over 150,000 full- and part-time jobs with a payroll of $8.2 billion.
- Compared to 2016, total economic output in 2017 remained flat, but both total employment and value added increased about 1% with a 4.2% rise in total labor income.
- The manufacturing component of the forest sector was the top employer among manufacturing sectors in the state.
- Every job created in the forest sector resulted in another 1.11 jobs in North Carolina.
- On average, every dollar generated in the forest sector contributed an additional 64 cents to the rest of the North Carolina economy.
- The forest sector in North Carolina directly generated about $258.5 million to state and local taxes and $848.7 million to federal taxes. Compared to 2016, while the state and local taxes increased by 5.3%, federal taxes decreased by 1%.
- International exports from the North Carolina forest sector totaled about $1.78 billion, up 24% from 2016.
| Employment2 (jobs) |
Labor Income3 (million $) |
Gross State Product4 (million $) |
Industry Output (million $) |
|||
|
Direct Contribution5 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Forestry operations |
399 |
18.78 |
44.50 |
53.47 |
||
|
Logging |
6,166 |
273.91 |
296.01 |
431.54 |
||
|
Primary solid wood mills6 |
8,090 |
459.91 |
679.48 |
2,818.54 |
||
|
Secondary solid wood mills7 |
39,997 |
1,910.31 |
2,407.80 |
7,426.99 |
||
|
Primary paper and paperboard mills |
4,124 |
406.64 |
734.24 |
3,148.83 |
||
|
Secondary paper and paperboard mills |
12,867 |
912.14 |
1,471.62 |
6,080.55 |
||
|
Total |
71,642 |
3,981.69 |
5,633.64 |
19,959.93 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Total Contribution8 |
|
|
|
|
||
|
Forestry operations |
523 |
24.36 |
54.65 |
71.07 |
||
|
Logging |
8,113 |
363.54 |
458.08 |
710.16 |
||
|
Primary solid wood mills |
19,361 |
1,069.12 |
1,708.49 |
4,633.68 |
||
|
Secondary solid wood mills |
73,139 |
3,635.66 |
5,349.23 |
12,797.91 |
||
|
Primary paper and paperboard mills |
16,503 |
1,081.26 |
1,873.66 |
5,206.47 |
||
|
Secondary paper and paperboard mills |
33,343 |
2,007.03 |
3,298.76 |
9,331.54 |
||
|
Total |
150,983 |
8,180.96 |
12,742.87 |
32,750.83 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
Change in Total Contribution from 2016 |
||||||
|
Forestry operations |
-3.8% |
-12.3% |
62.5% |
23.4% |
||
|
Logging |
-2.0% |
-10.7% |
-9.2% |
-19.4% |
||
|
Primary solid wood mills |
3.4% |
8.1% |
1.2% |
5.2% |
||
|
Secondary solid wood mills |
-0.1% |
4.1% |
0.2% |
-0.9% |
||
|
Primary paper and paperboard mills |
-1.2% |
2.4% |
-0.2% |
-2.0% |
||
|
Secondary paper and paperboard mills |
2.9% |
6.7% |
4.4% |
1.8% |
||
|
Total |
0.8% |
4.2% |
1.1% |
0.0% |
||
|
1 Economic contribution numbers, based on multi-industry contribution analysis, are reported in 2017 dollars. The method of internal adjustments to the IMPLAN software (IMPLAN 2018) was used. More details about the contribution analysis method can be found at: https://bit.ly/2LajYIL. IMPLAN sectors included: 15, 16, 19 (partial), 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 368, 369, 370, 373, 374. 2 Employment includes both full- and part-time jobs. 3 Labor income includes all forms of employment income, including employee compensation (wages and benefits) and proprietor income. 4 Gross State Product (value added) is the difference between industry output and the cost of intermediate inputs. It consists of compensation of employees, taxes on production and imports less subsidies, and gross operating surplus. 5 Industry output is the total annual value of production by industry. 6 Direct contribution is a series of production changes or expenditures made by producers/consumers as a result of an activity. 7 Primary mills consume wood in a round or log form before producing a value added product, such as sawmills and pulp mills. 8 Secondary mills use wood-based products to produce value added products, such as furniture and paper mills. 9 Total contribution is the sum of direct, indirect, and induced contribution effects generated by the sector. |
||||||
Publication date: May 9, 2019
AG-844
North Carolina State University and North Carolina A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, age, veteran status or disability. In addition, the two Universities welcome all persons without regard to sexual orientation.