Wood Markets News


American Wood Council Supports Mass Timber Pilot Program for Department of Defense

Following the House Armed Service Committee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which included language to establish a pilot program to evaluate the effects of using mass timber products in Department of Defense (DOD) military construction projects, American Wood Council (AWC) President and CEO Jackson Morrill issued a statement in support.

July Construction Job Openings and Labor Turnover Report Released

A closer look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and a look specifically on the construction sector, reveals that the number of open construction jobs declined in July to 321,000 unfilled positions. Overall, hiring in the construction sector remained substantial in July, increasing to a rate of 5.2%.

Weekly Jobless Claims Decline in the Week Ending September 4, 2021

The U.S. Department of Labor is reporting that an additional 310,000 Americans made their initial filing for unemployment benefits during the week ending on Saturday, September 4, 2021. This is a decrease of 35,000 from the previous week’s revised level, the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000.

Western Australia to Band Native Forest Logging Starting at the End of 2023

Western Australia (WA) Premier Mark McGowan has announced an effort to preserve an estimated two million hectares of vegetation by banning logging of native forest in WA starting at the end of 2023. The changes will be contained in a new Forest Management Plan, due for release shortly, that from 2024 will ban the removal of timber from native forests besides for “limited forest management activities…

Mortgage Applications Decline for Second Consecutive Week in the Week Ending September 3, 2021

According to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Application Survey (WMAS), for the week ending September 3, 2021, the Market Composite Index — a measure of mortgage loan application volume — decreased -1.9% on a seasonally adjusted basis from one week earlier. On an unadjusted basis, the Index decreased -3% compared with the previous week.