摘要：The main goal of the study was to make a multidimensional analysis of the entity structure, employment structure and economic and financial results of the furniture manufacturing sector in the EU. The analysis was based on the EUROSTAT data referring to the seven largest (EU-7) furniture manufacturers in the EU (EU-28), i.e. Germany, Italy, France, Poland, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. The analysis included a wide range of economic and financial determinants of the furniture manufacturing sector, such as the number and structure of the size of enterprises, the number of employees and employment structure, total income, gross value added, labour productivity, outlay productivity, production profitability. The study revealed that in all the countries under analysis there was the largest number of microenterprises in the furniture industry. The income and value added generated by this group of enterprises was strongly diversified. Apart from that, the study showed that the highest economic efficiency of the furniture manufacturing sector, which was measured with productivity ratios, was noted in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, whereas the lowest economic efficiency was noted in Poland. On the other hand, the best financial results, measured with profitability ratios, were noted in the furniture manufacturing sector in Poland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. As far as the Polish furniture industry is concerned, these differences were chiefly caused by low labour costs, which constituted a relatively small part of the value added. In consequence, they were decisive to the highest production profitability in the EU.
关键词：structure; economic and financial results; furniture industry; EU
