Job prospects Silviculture Worker in British Columbia

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Explore current and future job prospects for people working as a "silviculture worker" in British Columbia or across Canada.

Job opportunities in British Columbia

The recent trends from the past 3 years were updated on July 25, 2025. The job outlooks over the next 3 years were updated on December 10, 2025.

Prospects over the next 3 years

The employment outlook will be Very limited for silviculture and forestry workers (NOC 84111) in British Columbia for the 2025-2027 period.

The following factors contributed to this outlook:

• Employment growth will lead to a few new positions.
• Not many positions will become available due to retirements.
• There are several unemployed workers with recent experience in this occupation.

This occupation includes forest firefighters, which have seen a recent recruitment push due to increasing wildfires. 

The British Columbia Wildfire Service faces rising year-round demand for forest firefighters due to extreme weather conditions and the demands of expanded wildfire mitigation work. Employment in forestry-related professions has been declining year-over-year, and the industry faces several curtailments at wood manufacturing facilities. 

Stable job growth continues to be inhibited by difficulty accessing economic fibre, falling annual harvests, high U.S. duties and tariffs, and the impacts of extreme weather and wildfires, though the industry remains particularly important to rural and Indigenous communities. 

Provincial and federal funding for reforestation projects as well as support for wood manufacturing and mass timber may provide some employment opportunities.

Here are some key facts about silviculture and forestry workers in British Columbia:

• Approximately 1,650 people worked in this occupation in May 2021.
• Silviculture and forestry workers mainly work in the following sectors:
  • Forestry and logging (NAICS 113, 1153): 43%
  • Provincial and territorial public administration (NAICS 912): 22%
  • Local, municipal, regional, aboriginal and other public administration (NAICS 913-919): 9%
  • Management and administrative services (NAICS 55, 56): 9%
  • Wood product manufacturing (NAICS 321): 5%
• The distribution of full-time and part-time workers in this occupation is:
  • Full-time workers: 91% compared to 78% for all occupations
  • Part-time workers: 9% compared to 22% for all occupations
• 25% of silviculture and forestry workers work all year, while 75% work only part of the year, compared to 61% and 39% respectively among all occupations. Those who worked only part of the year did so for an average of 33 weeks compared to 42 weeks for all occupations.
• 6% of silviculture and forestry workers are self-employed compared to an average of 17% for all occupations.
• The gender distribution of people in this occupation is:
  • Men: 80% compared to 52% for all occupations
  • Women: 20% compared to 48% for all occupations
• The educational attainment of workers in this occupation is:
  • no high school diploma: 14% compared to 8% for all occupations
  • high school diploma or equivalent: 44% compared to 28% for all occupations
  • apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma: 10% compared to 13% for all occupations
  • college certificate or diploma or university certificate below bachelor's: 16% compared to 17% for all occupations
  • bachelor's degree: 16% compared to 22% for all occupations
  • university certificate, degree or diploma above bachelor level: less than 5% compared to 12% for all occupations

Breakdown by region

Explore job prospects in British Columbia by economic region.

Source Labour Market Information | Prospects Methodology