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Description
Cut, shape, and assemble wooden articles or set up and operate a variety of woodworking machines, such as power saws, jointers, and mortisers to surface, cut, or shape lumber or to fabricate parts for wood products.
Job Outlook
Overall employment of woodworkers is expected to decline through 2014, although job growth and opportunities will vary by specialty. In general, opportunities for more highly skilled woodworkers will be better than for woodworkers in specialties susceptible to productivity improvements and competition from imported wood products. Despite the expected overall decline in employment of woodworkers, many job opportunities still will arise each year because of the need to replace experienced woodworkers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force. Firms will need woodworkers with technical skills to operate their increasingly advanced computerized machinery. The number of new workers entering these occupations is expected to be low because, as school systems face tighter budgets, the first programs to be cut often are vocational-technical programs, including those that train woodworkers. Also, interest in pursuing these jobs will continue to decline as workers question the stability of manufacturing occupations. For these reasons, competition should be mild, and opportunities should be best for woodworkers who, through vocational education or experience, develop highly specialized woodworking skills or knowledge of CNC machine tool operation. Employment of sawing and woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders is expected to decline through 2014. Jobs in the United States will continue to be lost as imports grow. To remain competitive with these imports, some domestic firms are expected to continue to move their production processes to foreign countries, further reducing employment. Others are using advanced technology, such as robots and CNC machinery, to reduce the number of workers needed in production. These forces will prevent employment from rising with the demand for wood products, particularly in the mills and manufacturing plants where many processes can be automated. Among woodworking machine operators, job prospects will be best for those skilled in CNC machine tool operation. Employment of furniture finishers is expected to decline. Since furniture is largely mass-produced, it is highly susceptible to import competition; the percentage of furniture sold in the United States that is produced abroad has steadily increased over the past 10 years, a trend that is expected to continue. Employment of bench carpenters, cabinetmakers, modelmakers, patternmakers, and other specialized woodworking occupations will grow more slowly than the average. Demand for these workers will stem from increases in population, personal income, and business expenditures, in addition to the continuing need for repair and renovation of residential and commercial properties. Therefore, opportunities should be available for those who specialize in items such as moldings, cabinets, stairs, and windows. Firms that focus on custom woodwork will be best able to compete against imports without transferring jobs offshore, so opportunities should be very good in specialized woodworking sectors, such as architectural woodworking. Modelmakers and patternmakers who know how to create and execute designs on a computer may have the best opportunities. Employment in all woodworking specialties is highly sensitive to economic cycles. During economic downturns, workers are subject to layoffs or reductions in hours.
Job Nature
Despite the development of sophisticated plastics and other materials, the demand for wood products continues unabated. Helping to meet this demand are woodworkers. Woodworkers are found in industries that produce wood, such as sawmills and plywood mills; in industries that use wood to produce furniture, kitchen cabinets, musical instruments, and other fabricated wood products; and in small shops that make architectural woodwork, furniture, and many other specialty items. all woodworkers are employed at some stage of the process through which logs of wood are transformed into finished products. Some of these workers produce the structural elements of buildings; others mill hardwood and softwood lumber; still others assemble finished wood products. They operate machines that cut, shape, assemble, and finish raw wood to make the doors, windows, cabinets, trusses, plywood, flooring, paneling, molding, and trim that are components of most homes. Others may fashion home accessories, such as beds, sofas, tables, dressers, and chairs. In addition to these household goods, woodworkers also make sporting goods, including baseball bats and oars, as well as musical instruments, toys, caskets, tool handles, and thousands of other wooden items. Production woodworkers set up, operate, and tend woodworking machines such as power saws, planers, sanders, lathes, jointers, and routers that cut and shape components from lumber, plywood, and other wood products. In sawmills, sawing machine operators and tenders set up, operate, or tend wood-sawing machines that cut logs into planks, timbers, or boards. In plants manufacturing wood products, woodworkers first determine the best method of shaping and assembling parts, working from blueprints, supervisors' instructions, or shop drawings that woodworkers themselves produce. Before cutting, they often must measure and mark the materials. They verify dimensions and may trim parts using handtools such as planes, chisels, wood files, or sanders to ensure a tight fit. Woodworking machine operators and tenders set up, operate, or tend specific woodworking machines, such as drill presses, lathes, shapers, routers, sanders, planers, and wood-nailing machines. Lower skilled operators may merely press a switch on a woodworking machine and monitor the automatic operation, whereas more highly skilled operators set up equipment, cut and shape wooden parts, and verify dimensions using a template, caliper, or rule. The next step in the manufacturing process is the production of subassemblies using fasteners and adhesives. Next, the pieces are brought together to form a complete unit. The product is then finish-sanded; stained; and, if necessary, coated with a sealer, such as lacquer or varnish. Woodworkers may perform this work in teams or be assisted by a helper. Woodworkers have been greatly affected by the introduction of computer-controlled machinery. This technology has raised worker productivity by allowing one operator to simultaneously tend a greater number of machines. An operator can program a CNC machine to perform a sequence of operations automatically, resulting in greater precision and reliability. The integration of computers with equipment has improved production speed and capability, simplified setup and maintenance requirements, and increased the demand for workers with computer skills. While this costly equipment has had a great effect on workers in the largest, most efficient firms, precision or custom woodworkers, who generally work in smaller firms, have continued to employ the same production techniques they have used for many years. Workers such as cabinetmakers and bench carpenters, modelmakers and patternmakers, and furniture finishers work on a customized basis, often building one-of-a-kind items. These highly skilled precision woodworkers usually perform a complete cycle of tasks, cutting, shaping, and preparing surfaces and assembling prepared parts of complex wood components into a finished wood product. For this reason, these workers normally need substantial training and an ability to work from detailed instructions and specifications. In addition, they often are required to exercise independent judgment when undertaking an assignment.
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