Impact on regional employment

Research by Stennes and Wilson concluded that every 1,000 m3 of harvested timber used to manufacture engineered wood products result in the equivalent of 0.8 full-time jobs in harvesting, transportation, milling and manufacturing. Based on these estimates, an engineered wood tower plant manufacturing 250 towers per year will be capable of employing about 70 people in the forest products sector. Additional research by Gary Horne concluded that every job created in the forest products sector results in an indirect multiplier of 0.09 in other wood product manufacturing, plus 0.53 in other sectors. This would result in another 45 full-time equivalent jobs. Of course, these figures do not include the direct and indirect employment that will result from the tremendous growth that is expected in the wind energy sector itself.