HIGH POINT, N.C. – On Manufacturing Day, Oct. 2, 2015, the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA) will introduce a jobs program for the furniture industry.

The drive will be initiated by AHFA's Solution Partners division, whose mission is to increase the growth and global influence of the home furnishings industry. The aim of this campaign is to immediately fill skilled labor positions and to encourage you people to seek a career in furniture manufacturing. A new online jobs center will be designed to inform and inspire students as they are planning their future and it will provide links to job training programs.

“An entire generation has grown up seeing furniture factories close and watching friends and relatives lose their livelihoods as wood furniture manufacturing jobs moved overseas,” explains Dwayne Welch, executive vice president and chief sales and marketing officer for HSM. “The media and the general public are not aware that thousands of furniture manufacturing jobs never left our shores. In fact, more than half of the upholstered furniture sold in America is still made in America.”

The jobs initiative, which will work to address all furniture industry worker needs, not just those in upholstery plants, is being funded by AHFA’s Solution Partners and a grant from AHFA’s Furniture Foundation, which has been funding research and educational programs in the home furnishings industry since 1948.