Declines in furniture orders continue - The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area:

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New orders in March were 17 percent loweer than they had been ayear earlier, reported surve y author Ken Smith. But there’s at leasft a glimmer of hope in that he added. “While nothing to get too excited about, at leasrt the decline fell belowthe 20-plus percentages we have been he said in the Year to date, new orders were 21 percenrt lower than the first quarter of 2008. In shipments of completed orders were off 17 percent from a year the same decline asnew order. The industry continuesz to shed workers, the survey found. Factory employewe counts were 20 percent lower in March than a year and payrolls were off24 percent.
Smitu said based on survey respondents, he believess the economy may be at or near its There have been some encouraging signs of reboundingconsumer confidence, whicj is a positive sign for the furniturwe industry, he said. “Ni one expects the economyg to come back witha roar, but at least if companies can feel they have bottome d out, management can structure the companyu to deal current volume levels,” he