Regional differences in harvesting levels and wood-based employment in Norway

In this paper, a statistical framework based upon shift-share analysis is employed to analyse regional differences in Norway regarding changes in harvesting levels and number of full-time equivalent employees in wood processing. Changes in harvesting levels and employment differ between regions. A tendency found is that there has been a moderate centralisation in the period 1990–2000 with respect to harvesting levels. The analysis indicates that remote municipalities harvest relatively more in periods with a high harvesting intensity, while the harvesting level is more evenly distributed among the regions in other periods. There is, however, no clear picture whether there has been a centralisation or decentralisation regarding woodbased employment. Differences between regions may therefore be explained by structural factors, for example the degree to which firms in a particular region concentrate on production of bulky commodities or more customeroriented niche production.