The forest industry claims 80,000 jobs are threatened by a proposed new forest carbon method. But employment data from three states tell a very different story, according to David Lindenmayer

There has been a lot of discussion about forestry in Australia over the past few months. Much of it is related to a proposed new forest carbon method which is an approach to reduce the substantial emissions that come from logging our native forests. Lobbyists from the forest industry are worried about the significant step down in the amount of native forest logging that would come from the forest carbon method. They have claimed that the implementation of the method will result in the loss of 80,000 jobs. The number 80,000 has recently been re-ventilated by members of parliament in Canberra. But is this true? Will there be tens of thousands of people thrown out of work by a new forest carbon method?

I have worked in the native forest logging sector for more than 43 years, and the issue of employment numbers has been discussed routinely for more than two decades. The actual number of direct jobs is a long way short of the claimed 80,000. Let’s examine some of the evidence.

In the southern region of New South Wales – from Sydney to Eden – a detailed economic analysis by Frontier Economics published in 2021 shows that native forest logging had 110–120 cutting and log haulage jobs and 180–200 processing jobs. Frontier Economics has since confirmed a statewide public native forest logging employment estimate of approximately 1,070 direct jobs across NSW as a whole.........

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