The office furniture industry maintained a strong sales pace through midyear, even amid sluggish U.S. economic and job growth.

Driven by delayed client projects, industrywide shipments through June grew 22.5 percent, to $4.52 billion, over the same six-month period in 2010, according to the Grand Rapids-based Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association.

Mike Regan, manager of administration and statistical information at BIFMA, cites the strong growth rate to pent-up demand from the recession. Corporations that held off on office renovations or expansions in 2009 and 2010 have been spending in 2011 to drive improvements in worker productivity and efficiency, Regan said.

“And it appears one of the tools of productivity is office furniture,” he said. “We hope we continue with a nice healthy spree here.”

BIFMA’s latest outlook indicates the industry should maintain a solid pace in the coming months, though growth rates will ease as year-to-year comparisons come from the latter half of 2010 when the business began to pick up.

Sales volume driven by delayed client projects will also wane, Reagan said.

“There was a lot of pent-up demand because of the duration of the recession,” Regan said. “So what the conventional wisdom says is it’s an effect that is kind of temporary.”

BIFMA's new quarterly outlook, prepared by Global Insight and updated this week, is virtually unchanged from three months ago. North American shipments are projected to grow 17.6 percent for all of 2011, to $9.8 billion, and by 7.5 percent in 2012, to $10.5 billion.

The updated figure for 2011 is one-tenth of a percentage point above the last outlook in late May. The 2012 project compares to 8.4 percent growth predicted three months ago.