May 23, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. A predicted two-year downturn for the office furniture industry will become worse than previously forecast. An updated outlook from the Grand Rapids-based Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association forecasts a 6.8 decline in shipments this year, to $10.6 billion. The outlook is a sizable downgrade from the 0.6 percent decline forecast in February for 2008. The outlook, prepared by Global Insight and updated quarterly, also forecasts a 6.3 percent shipment decline in 2009 to $10 billion, more than twice the decrease than previously predicted. The downgraded outlook reflects deteriorating economic indicators that impact the industry: New office construction, corporate profits and capital spending, and white-collar job growth, BIFMA Executive Director Tom Reardon said. "It's just a further erosion in all the drivers," Reardon said. The outlook presumes a mild U.S. recession, with a 1 percent decline in gross domestic product for the second quarter and a flat or slightly negative GDP in subsequent quarters, Reardon said. Through the 1Q, industrywide shipments were down 1 percent to $2.63 billion, according to BIFMA. The office furniture industry in 2007 grew 5.5 percent, to $11.41 billion, the fourth straight year of growth following a devastating decline that saw sales fall 36 percent from 2001 to 2003, from $13.28 billion to $8.50 billion.