The printing employment situation had been pretty flat throughout last summer, had started picking up in the fall, but now is on the whole flat. Overall printing employment in January 2024 was unchanged from December, with production employment up 0.7%, while non-production employment was down -1.3%.

In terms of publishing, overall publishing employment was down -0.3% from December to January, while advertising and related services was down -1.6%. 

Last year, we started adding a number of other business categories to our employment table, the reporting of which, as you may recall from our tracking of the publishing and creative markets, lags a month.

Overall employment in the signage industry was down -3.0% from November to December, with sign production employment down -2.5% and non-production down -3.6%.

Converted paper products employment was up 2.4% from November to December, with paperboard container employment up 4.1% and paper bags and coated and treated paper employment down -1.1%.

Looking at some specific publishing and creative segments, from November to December, periodical publishing employment was down -3.1%, while newspaper publishing employment was—wow—up 8.8% and book publishing down -0.5%. Graphic design employment was unchanged from November to December. Ad agency employment was up 1.3%, and PR agencies were up 4.7%. Direct mail advertising employment was down -1.2%.

As for January employment in general, the BLS reported on February 2 that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 353,000 in January, and the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%. Meanwhile, The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for November was revised up by 9,000 (from +173,000 to +182,000) and for December was revised up by 117,000 (from +216,000 to +333,000). Ergo, employment in November and December combined was 126,000 higher than previously reported.

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) ticked up from 7.1% to 7.2%.

The labor force participation rate was unchanged at 62.5% in January and the employment-to-population ratio increased from 60.1% to 60.2%. The labor force participation rate for 24–54-year-olds also ticked up from 83.2% to 83.3%.

This employment report was well above economists’ expectations, and was a pretty good report.