Over the summer, overall printing employment had been generally flat, a situation which continued through the autumn. In October, overall printing employment was up slightly by 0.4%, with production employment up 1.1% and non-production employment down 1.2%, one nearly offsetting the other.

Overall publishing employment was down 0.4% from September to October, while advertising and related services was up 0.8%.

Looking at other business categories, the reporting of which lags a month:

Overall employment in the signage industry was up 0.3% from August to September, with sign production employment up 2.1% and non-production down 2.2%—again, a wash overall.

Converted paper products employment was down 0.2% from August to September, with paperboard container employment down 0.2% and paper bags and coated and treated paper employment down 0.4%.

Looking at some specific publishing and creative segments, from August to September, periodical publishing employment was down 0.6%, while newspaper publishing employment was up down 1.3% and book publishing was down 0.9%. Graphic design employment was down 0.5% from, ad agency employment was down 0.7%, and PR agencies were up 0.1%. Direct mail advertising employment was down 1.0%.

As for October employment in general, the BLS reported on November 1 that total nonfarm payroll employment was essentially unchanged (up 12,000) with the unemployment rate staying at 4.1%. August and September payrolls were revised down by a combined 112,000. The October employment report was impacted by strikes and hurricanes.

The U-6 rate (the so-called “real” unemployment rate which includes not just those currently unemployed but also those who are underemployed, marginally attached to the workforce, and have given up looking for work) was unchanged at 7.7%.

The labor force participation rate was dropped from 62.7% to 62.6% and the employment-to-population ratio decreased from 60.2% to 60.0%. The labor force participation rate for 24–54-year-olds ticked down from 83.8% to 83.5%.  

The October report was below economists’ expectations.