Socio-economic impacts of the forest industry Queensland 2nd edition, May 2018 Jacki Schirmer1,2, Mel Mylek1, Anders Magnusson3, Dominic Peel1 and Julian Morison3 1 Health Research Institute, University of Canberra 2 Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra 3 EconSearch Contents Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Methods .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Overview of the industry – Queensland ................................................................................................. 3 Industry structure ............................................................................................................................... 3 Industry sectors ................................................................................................................................... 5 Native eucalypt forest sector .......................................................................................................... 7 Native cypress pine sector .............................................................................................................. 7 Softwood plantation sector – Araucaria ......................................................................................... 7 Softwood plantation sector – southern pine .................................................................................. 7 Hardwood plantation sector ........................................................................................................... 8 Other activities ................................................................................................................................ 8 Regions analysed in this report ........................................................................................................... 8 Economic value ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Measuring economic impact ............................................................................................................. 10 Categories of economic impact .................................................................................................... 10 Value of output ............................................................................................................................. 11 Industry expenditure..................................................................................................................... 11 Industry contribution to Gross Regional Product (GRP) ............................................................... 12 Employment .................................................................................................................................. 13 Direct economic value ...................................................................................................................... 13 Direct value of output of the Queensland forest industry ........................................................... 13 Direct expenditure by the Queensland forest industry ................................................................ 14 Contribution of the forest industry to Gross Regional Production ............................................... 17 Total economic value including both direct and flow-on effects ..................................................... 18 Employment .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Direct employment ........................................................................................................................... 21 Defining ‘direct’ employment ....................................................................................................... 21 Direct employment generated by the industry in 2017 ............................................................... 22 Direct employment by local government area ............................................................................. 26 Flow-on employment ........................................................................................................................ 29 Comparing employment estimates................................................................................................... 31 Direct employment over time ........................................................................................................... 37 Working conditions ............................................................................................................................... 40 Working hours ................................................................................................................................... 40 Income .............................................................................................................................................. 42 Workforce diversity and sustainability ................................................................................................. 44 Gender .............................................................................................................................................. 44 Age .................................................................................................................................................... 45 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders ............................................................................................... 46 Recruiting workers and contractors.................................................................................................. 47 Industry skills and training needs ......................................................................................................... 49 Formal skills attainment.................................................................................................................... 52 Business and market outlook ................................................................................................................ 54 Overall business conditions .............................................................................................................. 54 Future business expectations ........................................................................................................... 54 Business challenges ........................................................................................................................... 56 i Community perceptions of the social, economic, service and infrastructure effects of the forest industry ................................................................................................................................................. 58 Quality of life and liveability ............................................................................................................. 58 Perceptions of regional industries .................................................................................................... 63 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 70 References ............................................................................................................................................ 71 Appendix 1 Data tables ......................................................................................................................... 73 Appendix 2 Using ABS Census data to identify employment in secondary processing ........................ 87 Appendix 3: Direct forest industry – comparison of employment recorded in the 2016 ABS Census by place of work and place of residence ................................................................................................... 90 ii Figures Figure 1 Stylised structure of the forest and wood products industry ................................................................... 5 Figure 2 Distribution of native forest and plantations harvested for commercial timber production, Queensland (reproduced from State of Queensland, 2016) ...................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3 Derivation of direct contribution to GRP, Queensland – all parts of the industry ................................. 18 Figure 4 Derivation of total contribution to GRP, Queensland – all parts of the industry ................................... 20 Figure 5 Level of difficulty involved in recruiting different types of workers, as rated by Queensland forest industry businesses............................................................................................................................................... 47 Figure 6 Key issues preventing recruitment of skilled workers into the Queensland forest industry .................. 48 Figure 7 Expectations for business revenue, profitability, workforce size and investment over the next 12 months 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