Last updated: 05 May 2025

Forestry Labour Market Dynamics

• Median earnings for the Forestry and Logging industries are among the highest across Muka Tangata industries, and are consistently much higher than the national average as shown across ‘All industries’.
• The Forestry and Logging workforce has remained relatively stable, with steady worker turnover rates and a consistent number of filled jobs. In contrast, Forestry Support Services show seasonal workforce patterns, with turnover and job numbers rising during peak periods.

 Industry dataset (economic indicators and labour market dynamics)  

Source: Linked Employer-Employee Data, Stats NZ¹

In these charts we provide two benchmarks for reference: 'agriculture, forestry and fishing' which covers all industries involved in growing crops, raising animals, growing and harvesting timber, and harvesting fish and other animals from farms or their natural habitats, and a benchmark for 'all industries' which includes every industry group in New Zealand.

Linked Employer-Employee Data (LEED) data is produced by Stats New Zealand quarterly to measure labour market dynamics. There is a lag in data availability of around 14 months due to the time it takes for the data to be completed by employers, to flow through Inland Revenue, and for Stats New Zealand to undertake relevant transformations and quality checks². Here, we show the most recent data available at the time of publishing.

LEED data is available at the ANZSIC ‘group’ level, which is a broader level of classification than the ANZSIC class codes used for the workforce estimates. The relevant ANZSIC groups here are 030 Forestry and Logging³ which includes both 0301 Forestry and 0302 Logging, and 051 Forestry Support Services⁴.