Oregon Public Broadcasting

Thousands of high-paying Oregon jobs were lost due to federal free trade policies. That's according to The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, which released a report Wednesday detailing how the forest products industry was affected. KLCC's Becca Bartleson reports.

Findings indicate the majority of Oregon timber jobs lost since 1994 were due to U.S. trade agreements.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign sited data from the U.S. Labor Department, pointing to over 10,500 high-paying jobs displaced by work moving abroad.

The information is based on approved petitions for Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program designed to help with trade associated job loss.

Bill Street of the International Association of Machinists Woodworkers Division says the figures reflect only part of the problem.

Bill Street: "There are thousands of woodworkers who have lost their jobs because of these trade deals that didn't get into these numbers. In the past three years, 26 applications for trade readjustment assistance in the state of Oregon, in the wood products sector have been denied by the U.S. government."

The trade adjustment program approves assistance to unions, companies and individuals involved in the manufacture of U.S. timber products.

Forestry job layoffs due to trade agreements occurred in at least 70 Oregon communities and affected over 111 companies.