According to our most recent survey of residential furniture manufacturers and distributors in the Smith Leonard Accountants and Consultants' Furniture Insights newsletter, new orders in August were 12 percent lower than August 2008, levels.

New orders were 7 percent higher than July 2009 orders. The August-to-August decline was the lowest decline since September 2008.

Approximately 80 percent of the participants reported lower orders, up from 73 percent last month, but the severity of the decline was not as bad for many of the participants.

Year-to-date, new orders are down 19 percent from the first eight months of 2008, down from 20 percent last month. Year-to-date, 90 percent of the participants have reported lower orders when compared to last year.

The number of factory and warehouse employees increased 1 percent over July but were still 17 percent lower than August 2008.