Printing Employment Fell 2.8% in Past Year

The U.S. Labor Department estimates that there was a total of 1,499,900 workers employed in the printing and publishing industry during May of this year. This total includes both full- and part-time workers, but not others with a more casual attachment to the industry, such as independent contractors, consultants, and freelancers.

During the past year, the industry has lost an estimated 2.8% of its employment base, or about 43,000 jobs, while overall manufacturing sector employment has declined by 3.3%. After increasing 0.8% during 1998, industry employment declined by an identical 0.8% in 1999 and then by another 0.3% over the course of 2000 (on an annual average basis). The May 2001 employment total is the lowest for the industry since May 1987.

During the most recent 12 months, newspaper publishing employment has fallen by 1.0%, after a gain of a slight 0.1% over the course of 2000. Undoubtedly, much of the decline can be attributed to the fact that many newspapers either have folded or sharply reduced staffing in their dot-com initiatives.

However, the largest job losses during the past few years have been recorded by commercial printing firms. After employment declines of 2.1% in 1999 and another 1.2% during 2000, the commercial printing subsector has seen total jobs fall another 4.1% during the past 12 months.