Oregon Public Broadcasting

Forty Albany-area workers won’t be going to work  Monday.

International Paper cut back operations at its Albany paper bag and cardboard mill because of the economic slowdown.

Cardboard is actually an indicator of the broader economy, because if fewer things are being boxed – that means fewer things are being sold.

And it’s the latest hit to the local wood products industry.

Oregon has lost 6000 wood products jobs in the past two years – 20-percent of the industry’s total employment, according to the state.

Ray Wilkeson is the legislative director for the Oregon Forest Industries Council.

Ray Wilkeson: “And the timber industry is in the worst slump it's been in, in maybe forever. Certainly since the early 80’s is the last time it’s been this bad. And it’s a direct result of what’s going on in the country, and in the world, in terms of capital, and more directly, housing.”

One hundred more jobs have been lost just in the past week. Columbia Forest Products laid off 40 in Klamath Falls.

D.R. Johnson laid off 45 workers when it closed its Prairie City mill, near John Day.

And Boise Cascade laid off more than 20 workers at its Kettle Falls, Washington sawmill.