Pulp and Paper

Most of the pulp and paper industry's products are consumer oriented, and thus its economic outlook is tied very closely to the overall health of the U.S. economy. Because exports have accounted for a sizable percentage of the industry's growth in shipments since the early 2000s, the global economy is key to the outlook of the pulp and paper industry.

The market research organization IBISWorld reported in 2024 that the value of the U.S. paper mills industry was $34.39 billion, comprised of 165 businesses (a drop from the 235 businesses just three years earlier). A 2.6 percent decline in revenue was anticipated for 2024, and continued annual decline in market size growth was estimated for 2025 through 2030. The industry had been struggling leading up to the coronavirus pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, in 2019. The business lockdowns, social distancing requirements, and economic slowdown in 2020, triggered by the pandemic, further impacted the pulp and paper industry. There was growth in demand for packaging and sanitary paper products early in the pandemic, but the industry still experienced significant revenue loss. The economy has rebounded post pandemic but the paper industry will continue to decline. For example, in 2023, U.S. paper and paperboard production experienced a steep drop in revenue (7.2 percent), with declines in all areas except tissue. According to IBISWorld, "These figures indicate a larger trend of decreasing production and capacity in the industry, with specific categories like containerboard and printing-writing paper experiencing declines, while packaging paper showed some growth."

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that approximately 361,170 people work in the paper manufacturing industry; the American Forest and Paper Association reports a higher figure of 925,000 people employed in the U.S. forest products industry, including pulp and paper mills, packaging plants, and mills that recycle paper materials. Common jobs in the industry as reported by the DOL are paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders. Overall employment in paper manufacturing is forecast to decline in the coming years.

Jobs in the pulp and paper industry have been steadily declining at a slow rate over the past several years and this decline continued through the first decade of the 21st century. This is mainly due to increased computerization of papermaking processes, which results in the need for fewer workers to oversee operations. Paper and paper products are in high demand both domestically and abroad, but pulp and paper companies in other countries have intensified competition with the American market. Although there will be jobs in this industry for many years to come, workers with computer and other technical skills will have better chances of landing jobs in this increasingly competitive field.

One of the industry's greatest challenges over the years has been addressing environmental issues. Waste disposal and water pollution are major concerns for paper manufacturers, and during the past two decades, the industry has sharply reduced the volume of pollutants—airborne, waterborne, and solids—to comply with federal and state environmental regulations. In the late 1990s, the Environmental Protection Agency established Cluster Rules, the first attempt to combine water and air regulation for one industry. These rules, designed to reduce the amount of toxic water pollutants and air emissions by the primary pulp, paper, and paperboard industries, revised the water effluent and air emission standards. As a result of these rules, employment opportunities for researchers in wastewater management, emissions control, waste recycling, and energy recovery should be good.

The paper industry is also concentrating on the problem of how to dispose of its products after use and is rapidly increasing its ability to use recovered paper in the papermaking process. In the coming years, the paper industry will continue to invest in new mills, in maintaining existing mills at worldwide competitive standards, in maintaining renewable forest reserves, and in expanding its use of recoverable paper.

The increased automation and computerization of the industry is creating more opportunities for process engineers, computer scientists, and technicians in these fields, but decreasing the need for other employees by performing much of the work previously done manually. As the automation trend continues over the long term, hiring will primarily center on replacing workers who have left the industry or retired. Expanding IT departments will continue to present the most opportunities, as will the need for environmentalists and foresters.

At the corporate and managerial levels, the industry offers a wide variety of opportunities for office workers, accountants, market researchers, sales managers, and salespeople, as well as for the many other professionals needed to run a major corporation. With the international expansion of the industry, more positions in sales and marketing may be created. In addition, the push for new product development at many paper companies may translate into more product management and marketing positions.