FORESTS AND EMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY 37 



Average gross wages in timber-products industries (especially car- 

 pentry and cabinet work) in 1934-35 amounted to 74.8 Rpf. an hour. 

 Employment averaged 42.9 hours a week, so the weekly wage was 

 RM32.09 ($12.85). Net earnings, after deduction of tax and social 

 insurance contributions, amounted to RM27.42 ($11). This was lower 

 than for many branches of industry, but higher than earnings in the 

 paper, shoe manufacturing, and other industries which employ many 

 women and children. 16 



TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN FORESTRY AND FOREST INDUSTRIES 



It is difficult to ascertain from the available data just how many 

 persons are employed altogether in forestry and industries depending 

 on the forests. Statistics of the number of persons employed in 1925 

 in "pure and nearly pure" forest enterprises (i. e., those with less than 

 12.4 acres of farm land) in Germany indicate that roughly 64 persons 

 were employed in forest work for each 2,470 acres of forest (9). Of 

 these, 5 were owners or members of the owners' families (mostly for 

 the smaller units), 3 were managers, 9 were permanent laborers, and 

 47 were part-time workers (maximum number employed during the 

 year). Women comprised 30 percent of the total number employed. 



In the forests of Czechoslovakia it was estimated in 1926 that 

 227,000 workers and officials were employed (8). The area of forest 

 and the volume of timber cut were about one-third as great as in 

 Germany. One person was employed for every 51 acres of forest. 



Endres estimates that 50 to 60 hectares (124 to 148 acres) of forest 

 under fairly intensive management requires the equivalent of a full 

 year's work of one person, and that transportation and manufacture 

 of the product requires at least as much work. At this rate, if the 

 German forests were all intensively managed (which they are not) 

 they would give work directly and indirectly to between 400,000 and 

 500,000 persons (full-time equivalent). 



Ortegel (29) estimates that about 1,000,000 persons were directly 

 employed in the German forests just before the World War, or about 

 1 person per 34 acres. This was the equivalent of full-time employ- 

 ment of 200,000 persons. In addition, there were 26,000 foresters and 

 other officials in the lower and middle grades and 4,700 higher officials, 

 including some proprietors, practically all on a full-time basis. 



According to Dieterich (9), the Prussian State forests in 1927 

 afforded 0.96 man-days' work for every cubic meter of timber (Derb- 

 holz) cut. At this rate, all the forests of Germany should provide 

 about 42,000,000 days' work in normal years. He concludes that 

 if 200 days is considered full-time employment, and if allowance is 

 made for less intensive management of forests not belonging to the 

 State, direct employment in the forests is equivalent to between 

 170,000 and 180,000 full-time workers. As the average worker is 

 employed only 80 to 90 days a year, this means that about 500,000 

 different persons are employed. Besides these, there are indirectly 

 employed some 400,000 persons (equivalent to 40,000 to 50,000 

 year-long), in hauling timber and other forest products; and probably 

 more than 1,000,000 persons (equivalent to 100,000 to 120,000 full- 

 time) are engaged part of the time in gathering twigs, berries, and 

 mushrooms, and in peeling pulpwood and doing other work for con- 



13 Data from Institut fur Konjunkturforschung, reported in Stuttgarter NS-Kurier, December 31, 1935. 



