Much has been written about the fragile condition of the U.S. furniture manufacturing sector and the transformation it must make to survive and prosper. We have our opinions, which we�ve often expressed in this column. To our knowledge, however, no one has actually compiled a complete list of furniture plant closings and layoffs since the industry began to contract about five years ago. We�ve identified 225 plant closure and layoff events since January 2000 resulting in the loss of 55,465 jobs (Table 1). In addition, our research revealed that the closures appear to be far from over.

Since North Carolina leads the U.S. in furniture manufacturing, it is no surprise that it has experienced more furniture plant closings and layoffs than any other state. More than one out of every four jobs lost since January 2000 was in North Carolina � about 15,000 all told.

Large companies like Broyhill, Drexel Heritage and Lexington have shuttered several plants in the state. In fact, almost three times as many furniture factories in North Carolina closed or laid-off workers (71 incidents) as in Mississippi (24) and California (28), the second and third hardest hit states. More than 8,000 California furniture workers have lost their jobs since January 2000. That figure would be significantly higher if we included other wood products manufacturing facilities.

Many producers in the Golden State said one source regulatory burdens and workers� compensation costs were just as much to blame for job losses as the influx of chapter imports. Less than a dozen plants closed in Michigan, but mass layoffs at office furniture manufacturers Herman Miller, Steelcase and Haworth were responsible for its nearly 6,000 job losses. At least 18,000 workers at office furniture factories nationwide lost their jobs in the last five years. �Office furniture was a worse place to be than residential,� remarked furniture industry consultant Art Raymond, president of A.G. Raymond and Company. Following North Carolina, California and Michigan on the list of furniture industry job losses were Virginia (5,000), Ohio (2,900), Indiana (2,600) and Mississippi (2,400). More than 75 percent of all layoffs during the last five years have occurred in these seven states.

The U.S. furniture industry�s toughest year this decade was 2001. By our estimates, 71 mass layoffs and/or plant closures cost nearly 23,000 workers their jobs that year, most of them before the 9/11 tragedies. The number of incidents in 2002 fell to about half the 2001 level, with job losses totaling approximately 6,000, leading many to believe the worst was over. It wasn�t. U.S. furniture manufacturers let another 9,500 workers go in 2003, and are on pace to exceed that total by 80 percent in 2004. More than 100 factories have been downsized or shuttered since the beginning of 2003. These more recent closings suggest the shakeout is not over yet.

While we looked at many sources, we couldn�t capture every closure and layoff. Labor departments in many states record only mass layoffs, generally defined as 50 or more employees in a single event. Further, limited availability of historical data kept us from a more thorough investigation of closures in 2000 and 2001. Conservatively, the actual number of job losses is probably at least 10 percent higher than what we�ve stated here. If that assumption is correct, at least 61,000 U.S. Furniture industry jobs have disappeared since January 2000.

Furniture imports to the U.S. rose very gradually during the 1990�s, then skyrocketed in the 2000�s. U.S. furniture manufacturers had plenty of warning, but most failed to recognize and respond to the threat, and have thus become victims of it. Now that the horse is out of the barn, they are trying to close the door. According to Furnishings Digest, imports represented 55.2% of all wood household furniture sold to U.S. consumers in the second quarter of 2004. A decade ago, only 26.4% of all residential wood furniture sales were of imported products.

Compared with other manufacturing sectors in the United States, labor unions have relatively little influence in the furniture industry. In several instances, however, labor disputes and high union wages have negatively impacted U.S. furniture companies already struggling to survive in intensely competitive markets. An AFL-CIO newsletter published in March/April 2000 praised Samuel Lawrence Furniture of Phoenix, Arizona for entering into its first-ever union contract with 790 production employees. The ink on the contract was barely dry, however, when the company was forced to lay off workers due to its inability to compete with lower-cost imports. In March 2004, Samuel Lawrence closed its doors for good. In July, Guy Chaddock & Company shut down its Bakersfield, California factory, citing a labor dispute and higher workers� compensation costs as the primary causes.

The migration of U.S. furniture manufacturing from one region to another is not at all unprecedented. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries it shifted from New England to the upper Midwest due to cheaper labor. In the latter half of the 20th century, companies began to leave that region for greener, less expensive, pastures in the Southeast. What is unprecedented about today�s furniture manufacturing migration is that the industry is moving out of the country. Furniture plants that have been shuttered aren�t likely to reopen nor are those jobs likely to return to our shores.