This document, produced by Enrawell Consulting Kft., on behalf of the Hungarian Furniture Association, describes the interview research carried out in the first framework of the project with the code number GINOP-5.3.5-18-2020-00180 entitled "Addressing the labour market challenges of the furniture industry", as well as the main characteristics of the sector based on Opten's database. Its aim is to show how the actors of the furniture industry see their situation in Hungary, and the processes and challenges of the labour market.
The "Introduction" chapter summarizes the starting points and goals of the research in general. Next, we will present in more detail the main challenges defining the topic of the interviews, identified in the analysis of the situation prepared within the framework of the project: the epidemic situation in 2020-22, the increase in demand related to the construction boom, the issue of global and local sustainability, digitalization, the globalization of furniture production and sales, demographic changes and geopolitical processes. In connection with geopolitical changes, the situation created by the Russian-Ukrainian war, which threatens supply chains to an even greater extent than before, deserves special attention.
Then, in the methodological chapter, in order to achieve the goals described above, the analysis summarizes the data sources used (statistical data sources and interviews with industry players), analytical methods, as well as their limitations and related analytical possibilities.
After that, we present the enterprise demography of the Hungarian furniture industry based on the data for 2019 and 2020 extracted from Opten's database.
In the course of the analysis of the research, we first present the characteristics of the organizations involved in the research, and then analyze what was said during the interviews in a threefold breakdown: general characteristics and processes, challenges, labor market experiences, and future expectations.
