PARAMUS, N.J., NOV. 11, 2004 – The Printing Business Index (PBI) of the National Association for Printing Leadership (NAPL), the Association’s broadest measure of print activity, reached a record high of 62.8 in October 2004, up from 59.9 in September. This marks the 16th consecutive month that the index has been above the critical 50.0 mark—the point at which more printers report activity is picking up than report activity is slowing down. “We must remember that the PBI, like everything else in our industry, is bouncing off very depressed levels. This reading is extremely significant, however, in that every component of the index—even those that had been lagging, such as hiring plans, prices, and profitability—is now rising,” said Andrew Paparozzi, NAPL vice president and chief economist. “This shows that our recovery is finally the real thing.” The PBI combines input from NAPL’s Printing Business Panel about work-on-hand, current business conditions, expected business conditions (confidence), hiring plans, profitability, and other key indicators into a single measure of activity. The NAPL Printing Business Panel is a representative group of more than 300 printers that the Association surveys monthly on a range of key printing issues. Since the same companies are surveyed every time, data are strictly comparable from period to period.