Economic Contribution of Forest Sector in Oklahoma in 2020
Highlights
- Oklahoma’s forest sector directly contributed $3.8 billion in industry output and employed more than 8,900 people with a payroll contribution of $575 million in 2020.
- The state received $1.4 billion directly from the forest sector through payroll, other employee compensation and property taxes.
- Including direct, indirect and induced impacts, the forest sector had a total economic impact of $5.6 billion in industry output and supported more than 18,450 jobs with a payroll of $1.1 billion.
- Every job created in the sector resulted in another 1.07 jobs in the state.
- Every dollar generated in the sector contributed an additional 45 cents to the rest of the state economy.
- In 2020, the forest sector witnessed mixed effects during COVID-19 in Oklahoma. Compared to 2019, industry output and employment were decreased. Averaged over all direct and total impact categories, labor income and value added were slightly increased by 2-4% from 2019 to 2020.
Figure 1. A wood load truck from SE Oklahoma.
Industry Analysis
- Secondary solid wood and primary paper and paperboard products were the top two employers in the Oklahoma forest sector.
- Almost half (49%) of the forest sector workforce - 4,369 workers - were directly employed in secondary industries.
- The primary paper and paperboard industry produced the largest value added, economic output and the labor income
- Primary paper and paperboard and primary solid wood products were the top two highest-paying forestry industries, based on their labor income to employment ratio.
- The forestry and logging industries together accounted for about 13% of the total employment. However, these were the lowest-paying forestry industries in Oklahoma.
- The loss of economic contribution from other forest sectors were mostly compensated by pulp and paper industries, which witnessed higher demand during the first year of the pandemic.
Figure 2. A forest located in SE Oklahoma.
Table 1. Total economic contribution of forest sector on Oklahoma employment, output and value-added.
| Employment (jobs) | Change from 2019 | Labor Income (million $) | Change from 2019 | Value Added (million $) | Change from 2019 | Industry Output (million $) | Change from 2019 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct Impact | |||||||||
| Forestry | 394 | -11% | 15.14 | -1% | 17.82 | 2% | 22.98 | -5% | |
| Logging | 735 | -10% | 17.23 | -13% | 21.07 | -10% | 44.13 | -12% | |
| Primary solid wood products | 1,069 | -6% | 81.28 | -5% | 137.16 | -3% | 399.25 | -16% | |
| Secondary solid wood products | 3,216 | -2% | 142.77 | -4% | 181.72 | -4% | 562.22 | -6% | |
| Primary paper and paperboard products | 2,340 | 3% | 234.49 | 6% | 822.21 | 7% | 2200.33 | 6% | |
| Secondary paper and paperboard products | 1,153 | 8% | 83.75 | 15% | 170.13 | 5% | 608.36 | 7% | |
| Total | 8,908 | -1% | 574.66 | 2% | 1,350.12 | 4% | 3,837.26 | 1% | |
| Total Impact | |||||||||
| Forestry | 469 | -11% | 18.49 | -4% | 23.69 | -3% | 34.07 | -9% | |
| Logging | 958 | -7% | 24.66 | -12% | 33.42 | -12% | 68.14 | -14% | |
| Primary solid wood products | 2,096 | -13% | 137.66 | -11% | 230.93 | -11% | 586.36 | -19% | |
| Secondary solid wood products | 5,042 | -4% | 235.67 | -5% | 334.64 | -6% | 861.56 | -8% | |
| Primary paper and paperboard products | 7,328 | 5% | 525.58 | 7% | 1,311.05 | 6% | 3,182.43 | 5% | |
| Secondary paper and paperboard products | 2,558 | 9% | 157.54 | 13% | 292.96 | 6% | 850.59 | 6% | |
| Total | 18,451 | -1% | 1,099.61 | 2% | 2,226.70 | 2% | 5,583.16 | -0.5% | |
| SAM Multiplier | |||||||||
| Forestry | 1.19 | -1% | 1.22 | -2% | 1.33 | -5% | 1.48 | -5% | |
| Logging | 1.30 | 3% | 1.43 | 1% | 1.59 | -2% | 1.54 | -2% | |
| Primary solid wood products | 1.96 | -7% | 1.69 | -7% | 1.68 | -9% | 1.47 | -3% | |
| Secondary solid wood products | 1.57 | -2% | 1.65 | -1% | 1.84 | -2% | 1.53 | -2% | |
| Primary paper and paperboard products | 3.13 | 2% | 2.24 | 1% | 1.59 | -1% | 1.45 | -1% | |
| Secondary paper and paperboard products | 2.22 | 1% | 1.88 | -2% | 1.72 | 1% | 1.40 | 0% | |
| Total | 2.07 | -1% | 1.91 | -2% | 1.65 | -3% | 1.45 | -2% | |
* Economic impacts, based on multi-industry contribution analysis, are reported in 2020 dollars.
** Ripple Effects = SAM Multiplier – 1
Key Definitions
- Industry output reveals total value of production or service by industry in a snapshot of time.
- Employment includes all full-time, part-time and selfemployed persons.
- Labor income includes wages, salaries, benefits of the employees (including their tax contributions to the government) and income for the self-employed individuals.
- Value-added is the difference between total output and the costs of its intermediate outputs.
- Direct contributions include forestry sector's own production, value-added, employment and labor incomes.
- Indirect contributions include economic activities in other sectors impacted by forestry sector’s purchase of goods and services.
- Induced contributions are economic activities from consumption of goods and services using incomes generated from direct and indirect contributions.
- Total economic contributions include direct, indirect and induced contributions.