Overall printing employment dropped -0.1% from November to December 2018, and on a year-over-year basis is down -1.6%. Production employment dropped a tad from November to December, and is down -4.0% from December 2017. Non-production employment is up +3.8% from December 2017 to December 2018.

In publishing, employment dropped from 718,000 in November to 716,900 in December. Publishing employment is down slightly (-0.5%) from December 2017. Newspapers took a hit employment-wise: down -10.1% from November 2017 to November 2018.

The creative markets, as we always point out, are doing better, especially our perennial hotspot, public relations. From November 2017 to November 2018, PR employment was up +8.9%. Among agencies, employment was up +1.5%, but if we back out PR, agency employment growth drops to +0.5%. Graphic design employment was up a little, but direct mail advertising was down -6.8%.

What effect will the government shutdown have on graphic arts employment? In the short term, there probably won’t be much of an impact. But, in the long term, if the shutdown persists, plants that do work for the Feds likely won’t be getting paid. If they can cover that volume, or at least revenue, with commercial work, then all is not lost. If not, it will impact the overall health of the business and, ultimately, employment.

Special Note on the Government Shutdown:Speaking of the shutdown, it is affecting us in that some government data series are not being updated or their release is being delayed. Specifically, monthly printing shipments and quarterly profits and revenues data are not being updated. We will have the latest data once publication resumes...whenever that may be.