SPAIN – Data from the third quarter of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) is again negative for employment in the wood and furniture industry, a decline of 5.6 %, as reported by Confemadera. The wood and furniture sector employed 120,900 workers, compared with 128,100 in the second quarter.

In the last quarter, the sector has lost a total of 7,200 employees, of which 5,500 belonged to companies engaged in furniture manufacture and 1,700 to other subsectors of the wood. Compared to the same period last year, the number of workers in the wood and furniture industry as a whole has fallen by 17 %, with a loss of 24,700 workers.

The economic crisis continues to make significant dent in the wood sector, currently comprised of 25,973 companies (CCD 2013) and with an annual turnover of EUR 11,886.5 million (IEE 2011). Beginning in 2008-2012 the number of firms in the wood and furniture industries fell by 28.2% (10,180 companies less), employment has fallen by 58.9 % (173,200 jobs lost) and turnover has dropped from 2007 to 2011 by 49.6 %, with a loss of €11.689,5 million.

According to Francis Huidobro, President of CONFEMADERA HABITAT, "This loss of employment in the wood and furniture demands a strong reaction by government, through the approval of rehabilitation and reform plans through tax incentives for both our industry, and for other construction-related sectors."