Northwest Timber, Paper Industries Adding Jobs But Increases In Past Two Years Still Below Peak Employment In 1988

Oregon and Washington have added about 4,600 jobs in the forest-products industry since President Clinton took office in January 1993, state employment economists said Friday.

There has been a gradual increase in timber- and paper-industry jobs over the past two years in both states, though they remain nearly 20,000 jobs below peak industry employment levels in 1988, the officials said.

Some parts of the states have suffered more than others, they said in telephone interviews from the state capitals. For example, jobless rates in Washington’s 20 most timber-dependent counties averaged 9 percent in April, half again as much as the 6 percent statewide.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., raised the issue this week in a letter to Clinton urging him to stand firm against congressional efforts to exempt some nationalforest logging from environmental laws.

Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Sen ate Agriculture Committee, said timber industry leaders were misleading the public by claiming 80,000 Northwest timber jobs could be lost if logging is not accelerated on public lands.

He estimated that 1,800 new timberrelated jobs had been added in Washington and Oregon since January 1993.

But state employment officials said the actual gain from January 1993 to January 1995 was about 4,600 in the two states for lumber, wood products and paper and allied products.

Compared to the peak levels of 1988, Oregon has lost about 14,000 jobs in those categories and Washington has lost about 5,300, the officials said.

Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., estimates the whole region, including Northern California and North Idaho, has lost about 30,000 timber jobs since 1988, his press secretary Heidi Kelly said.

Washington timber-related employment was 59,400 in 1988, 51,700 in 1993 and 54,100 in January 1995, said Dennis Fusco, chief economist for the Washington State Employment Security Department. In Oregon, it was 77,400 in 1988, 61,200 in 1993 and 63,400 in January 1995.