Forest-Based Employment

Background and Objective

Placing internationally comparable data about forest-related employment on the policy agenda is crucial for assessing the socio-economic benefits derived from forests and the forest sector. Of the various employment indicators, the number of people employed is widely used to assess the forest sector’s contribution to the national economy. Further, information on working conditions is necessary to bolster evidence-based policy advice and response strategies towards a sustainable and resilient future for the forest sector. However, the data on employment indicators still needs to be improved. Due to the characteristics of the forest-related labour market and the nature of the work, it is difficult to capture the total number of employed persons at meaningful spatial scales, and this is even truer for the indicators of employment quality. 

Approach

For the first research question, the project will enhance the so-called wave-based method for estimating employment in the forest sector by elaborating various statistical techniques and econometric models based on existing data sources. The final number of employed people in the forest sector will be selected on the basis of statistical diagnostic tests in combination with information from literature and expert workshops.

Simultaneously, two country case studies on the status of employment data are conducted.  Methodologically, the systematic literature review and the structured stakeholder workshop, are combined to answer the remaining research questions. The results and implications obtained from the country case studies may help to improve the ability of countries to collect and report internationally comparable data on employment indicators relevant to the forest sector labour market.

Our Research Questions

The project, commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aims to answer the following research questions, with the overall goal of enhancing and maintaining the availability of internationally comparable and reliable data on forest-related employment on the global, regional and national levels:

1. How many people are globally employed in the forest sector?

2. What data and measurement approaches are available for the employment indicators that reflect employment and working conditions in the forest sector?
3. What are the areas to promote good practices in collecting and reporting internationally comparable data on employment indicators relevant to the forest labour market?