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 Inc., 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
• Quantifying the costs of labor shortages

The presentation is scheduled from 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. and there is no fee to attend. FCLC's Research Chairman, Phil Zolan, will introduce the session. All industry stakeholders are encouraged to attend.

About FCLC
The FCLC was established in 2015 as a coalition of flooring industry trade associations committed to identifying issues and developing solutions to the industry's most pressing challenges. Currently, the following flooring associations support the FCLC: American Floorcovering Alliance, Inc. (AFA), International Certified Flooring Installers Associations Inc. (CFI), Floor Covering Installation Contractors Association (FCICA), Natural Stone Institute (NSI), North American Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD), National Institute of Certified Floorcoverings Inspectors (NICFI), National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), World Floor Covering Association (WFCA). For more information, visit www.fclcouncil.org.

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