CIRCULAR No. 471 JULY 1938 



UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

 WASHINGTON. D. C. 



FORESTS AND EMPLOYMENT IN GERMANY 



By W. N. Sparhawk, senior forest economist, Division of Forest Economics, 1 



Forest Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction __ 1 



Volume of employment in German forests 3 



Classification of forest workers 4 



Employment in the State forests of Prus- 

 sia 4 



Employment in the State forests of Ba- 

 varia 4 



Employment in the State forests of Wurt- 



temberg 5 



Employment in the State forests of Bruns- 

 wick - 6 



Work volume and intensity of forest manage- 

 ment 6 



Kinds of forest work 8 



Labor in forest planting 10 



Labor in logging 10 



Periods of employment 11 



Forest work largely a supplementary occupa- 

 tion 12 



Land ownership by forest workers 14 



Employment policies 15 



Employment policies in Bavaria 17 



Employment policies in Wurttemberg 



and Baden 18 



Employment policies in Prussia..- 19 



Organization of forest workers 20 



Wages and working conditions 21 



Forest workers' wages in Prussia 22 



Page 



Forest workers' wages in Bavaria 24 



Forest workers' wages in Wurttemberg... 27 



Forest workers' wages in Brunswick 28 



Labor regulations in Bavarian Forests 28 



Privileges and perquisites of forest work- 

 ers 29 



Housing and farm land 29 



Social insurance 31 



Training of forest workers 32 



Employment in sawmills and woodworking 



industries 33 



Total employment in forestry and forest in- 

 dustries 37 



Effect of economic depression on forest em- 

 ployment 38 



The afforestation program 41 



The Labor Service 42 



Summary and conclusions 44 



Literature cited _. 45 



Appendix: 



Examples of employment afforded by 



managed forests in Germany 47 



Examples of emergency work for relief of 



unemployment in Germany 48 



Volume of employment in Austrian for- 

 ests, working conditions, and wages 51 



INTRODUCTION 



Work in the woods, the sawmills, and the wood-working industries 

 has engaged the energies of large numbers of our people ever since 

 North America was settled. In most parts of the country, forest 

 work has been of a more or less transitory nature. Rapid develop- 

 ment and bustling activity of forest industries were followed, sooner 

 or later, by equally rapid decline. In districts without good agri- 

 cultural land or other natural resources, depletion of the timber was 

 followed by loss of opportunities for profitable employment. The 

 workers then had to move on to new regions, or were left stranded, 

 to eke out a precarious existence. Villages and cities grew up, 

 flourished for a brief period, and finally disappeared. 



In central Europe, and particularly in Germany, forests managed 

 on a sustained-yield basis have constituted a maior source 01 liveli- 

 hood for permanent communities through many generations. This 

 function of forests in supporting a settled, well-distributed popula- 

 tion lias come to be recognized there as a major objective in forest 



1 Special acknowledgement is due the Oberlaender Trust of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation, which 

 made possible the study of some of the matters covered in this circular with respect to Central Europe. 



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