Chicago - In January 2018, the Floor Covering Leadership Council (FCLC) commissioned an independent research firm to conduct a multi-phase study to quantify the scope and severity of the lack of installation professionals on the flooring industry's sustainability and growth. A Chicago-based research firm, The Blackstone Group, was contracted to conduct the research, whose quantitative component focused on businesses that purchased workers' services by engaging floor covering installers as direct employees and/or subcontractors in 2017. A total of 334 executives, representing floor covering contractors, retailers, workrooms, and installation businesses across 45 of the 50 states, participated.

The study's findings suggest, not only that the installation labor shortage is real, but that its financial impacts on the manufacturers, distributors, and retailers up the flooring supply chain - impacts that include lost margins on products and labor, production inefficiencies, higher labor costs, and increased claims - are significantly greater than previously understood.

On Thursday, February 28, during the Domotex USA event in Atlanta, Kathi Rose, executive vice president of The Blackstone Group, will provide an overview of the key findings of this groundbreaking research. Attendees will gain insights on: factors associated with shortages in the floor covering installation workforce; motivations and barriers to the recruitment of additional labor; analysis of labor force gaps; and quantifying the costs of labor shortages.

The presentation is scheduled from 3 - 4 p.m. and be introduced by Phil Zolan, FCLC's research chairman.

For more information, visit www.fclcouncil.org.