Creating continuing education paths and bridging the gap between the skills required by companies in the wood-furniture sector and the availability of skilled workers: this is the goal of the Territorial Pact for Skills and Employment in the Furniture and Furnishing Manufacturing Industry, signed by FederlegnoArredo, funded by the Lombardy Region and promoted by the Province of Monza and Brianza. This pilot project, focused on the Brianza area, will develop short training paths dedicated to fragile users, including migrants, unemployed and women in difficult conditions, offering practical skills in carpentry, furniture assembly, upholstery and sewing.

Training new skills

In a sector such as wood-furniture that has been facing a growing shortage of skilled workers in recent years, training new skills is a crucial challenge. According to data compiled by Unioncamere and Anpal's Excelsior Information System, employment needs in the wood-furniture sector nationwide in the five-year period 2024-2028 are expected to be between 22,000 and 34,000, with at least 8,000 workers for the wood industries and more than 25,000 for the furniture sector. Forty-eight percent of the new figures required in the 2024-2028 period will require a secondary technical-professional degree.

Link between the world of education and business

Aware of this situation, FederlegnoArredo, which has always been committed to responding to the training and employment needs of companies in the sector, will play a central role in mapping training needs through four focus groups with companies and the local training system. It will also coordinate the link between companies and training paths, promoting job placement through internships and apprenticeships.

“We are proud to contribute to an initiative that combines training, employment and social innovation,” says Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo. “Design is often perceived as a purely creative art, but it includes less visible and equally essential aspects, such as manual skills and in-depth knowledge of materials, techniques and the most modern production processes. Our goal is to make our supply chain known in all its aspects, and to emphasize how each professional figure involved in the production process is crucial to the success of a sector that is the pride of Made in Italy. This pilot project is proposed as a replicable model for other districts, helping to strengthen the link between the world of education and businesses.”

The first training course at Artwood Academy.

The project, coordinated by the Agenzia per la Formazione, l'Orientamento e il Lavoro di Monza e Brianza (AFOL), involves 16 entities including institutions, third sector entities, trade associations and businesses in the area. The first training course will start in March at Artwood Academy, the high training school in the field of wood design and contemporary carpentry, founded by FederlegnoArredo in 2013 in Lentate sul Seveso, to meet the training needs of companies in the Brianza district. By April 2026, at least 25 people will be trained, ready to enter the job market as carpenters, operators working on numerical control machines, designers, prototypists, upholsterers and stitchers.
 

The numbers of the wood-furniture supply chain

According to data from the FederlegnoArredo Study Center, there are just over 8,600 companies in the wood-furniture supply chain in Lombardy, of which more than 4,600 are in furniture (54 percent) and nearly 4,000 in wood (46 percent), with a total turnover that amounts to 10.8 billion euros. Employees employed in the Wood-Furniture supply chain in Lombardy number more than 53,000. In furniture production, it is the province of Monza and Brianza that leads the way, with 1,325 companies, 9,879 employees and a turnover produced of about 2.2 billion euros. The province of Monza and Brianza has the largest number of companies in Italy dedicated to the sector and is capable of driving it, covering 40 percent of the total turnover in Lombardy.