British Columbia’s largest forestry companies have grown for two consecutive years but have not reached their 2019 employment peak, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s list of the biggest forestry companies in b.C. (page 10).
in 2019, the average number of b.C. employees at the province’s top forestry companies rose to 1,105.8. the following year, the number of local employees fell 13.6 per cent to 955.8.
Following that 2020 decline, average employment grew for two consecutive years: 5.2 per cent in 2021, followed by 3.3 per cent in 2022, to an average of 1,038.1.
median b.C. employment followed a similar trend as the average: A peak in 2019, a fall the following year and a slow recovery over 2021 and 2022. despite recent growth, both average and median employment are down from where they were five years ago.
B.C.’s largest forestry company, Canfor Corp. (TSX:CFP) (No. 1) saw b.C. employment fall 11.6 per cent to
3,696 in 2021 from 4181.6 in 2018. but over the past year, local employment at Canfor grew for the first time in five years, increasing 4.2 per cent to 3,851 in 2022.
Drax Group (No. 11) had the largest one-year growth on the list: A 28.6 per cent increase to 450 employees in 2022 from 350 in 2021. Conifex Timber Inc. (No. 19) had the largest one-year decline with a 7.3 per cent drop to 266 b.C. employees in 2022 from 287 in 2021.
