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The National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center at Mississippi State University recently compiled furniture industry employment and wage data for the Franklin Furniture Institute.
The data show that 9,624 jobs in the furniture industry were lost from 2005 to 2010. Furniture industry employment dropped from 27,647 workers in 335 firms to 18,023 workers in 279 firms, or a 35 percent decrease over the past five years. The average annual wage for Mississippi furniture employees in 2010 was $37,542.
Data for furniture suppliers in Mississippi from 2005 to 2010 show a decrease in the number of firms from 580 to 523, and a 29 percent decrease in the number of employees from 33,152 to 23,496. The average annual wage for workers employed by furniture suppliers was $45,862 per year. While furniture employment in the state is down, the industry still supplies 31 percent of the upholstered furniture sold domestically in the U.S. in addition to providing $1.4 billion in employee compensation, $5.5 billion in total output and $2.1 billion in value-added to the Mississippi economy. The location of furniture manufacturers and employment remains heavily concentrated in northeast Mississippi.
For more information, visit the National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center's website at www.nsparc.msstate.edu.