Over the summer, overall printing employment had been generally flat, a situation which continued through the autumn. For the past couple of months, production and non-production employment alternated being up and down, with November seeing production employment down (by 0.3%) and non-production employment up (by 0.4%), the reverse of October. In December, we swap places again, with overall printing employment down 0.1%, production employment up 0.4% and non-production employment down 1.2%.

Overall publishing employment was up 0.7% from November to December, while advertising and related services was generally unchanged.

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

Overall employment in the signage industry was down 1.4% from October to November, with sign production employment down 1.6% and non-production down 1.2%—quite the reversal from October when sign employment was generally up. Chalk it up to the onset of winter as well as the holiday season slowdown

Converted paper products employment was up 0.3% from October to November, with paperboard container employment up 0.4% and paper bags and coated and treated paper employment generally flat.

Looking at some specific publishing and creative segments, from October to November, periodical publishing employment was down 0.2%, while newspaper publishing employment was up down 1.0% and book publishing was up 0.2%. Graphic design employment was up 0.5%, ad agency employment was down 0.3%, and PR agency employment was down 2.2%. Direct mail advertising employment was down 0.7%.

As for December employment in general, the BLS reported on January 10:

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 256,000 in December, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment trended up in health care, government, and social assistance. Retail trade added jobs in December, following a job loss in November.

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) decreased from 7.7% to 7.5%.

The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.5% and the employment-to-population ratio increased from 59.8% to 60.0%. The labor force participation rate for 24–54-year-olds decreased from 83.5% to 83.4%.  

The December report was  well above economists’ expectations, even if October and November payrolls were revised down by 8,000. A strong employment report to close out the year.