Roseburg Forest Products employees at the Coquille plywood mill have escaped layoffs that befell company employees in Douglas county — so far.

Employees at the Coquille plant will keep their jobs for now, according to Hank Snow, company vice president of human resources in Roseburg. But if the number of new houses being constructed doesn’t pick up soon, some of the 312 hourly and 20 salaried positions at the Coquille plant could be in jeopardy.

“Right now, the layoffs are not affecting Coquille,” Snow said Monday morning. “If the markets get worse and worse, we might be looking at some layoffs there, too.”

The layoffs are not a normal occurrence, Snow said. They stem directly from the nation’s economic downturn. If projections by Resource Information Systems Inc., a global forest products industry information provider, and the National Association of Home Builders, become a reality, the outlook for the Coquille mill is bleak for next year, he said.

“Right now, there are no housing starts to speak of,” Snow said. “They’re projecting that the first and second quarters for next year will be lower than it is now.”

Although there aren’t any layoffs planned for Coquille, Snow said employees will be taking a few days mandatory time off for both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Despite the gloomy predictions, Snow said he remains hopeful.

“What we’re hoping is that the market will get better,” he said.

The company laid off almost 120 workers at two of its Douglas County facilities in the past three weeks, including 32 hourly and four salaried employees at a plywood plant in Riddle, 54 hourly and five salaried workers at a particle board plant in Dillard and 22 hourly workers at a plywood plant in Dillard.

The privately held company is the largest employer in Douglas County still employing about 2,100 workers there, according to a press release. It employs about 3,600 workers across the country.

Company officials said they are unsure if the layoffs in Douglas County are permanent or temporary.