Wage and salary employment in the printing and related support activities industry is projected to grow 3.3 percent over the 2002-12 period, compared with the 16 percent growth projected for the economy as a whole. This modest growth reflects the expanding use of the Internet, which reduces the need for printed materials, and the increasing computerization of the printing process. The printing industry, though, will continue to supply products for education, business, and leisure for a long time to come. Although technological innovation and automation, mergers between and acquisitions of small and medium-size printing firms, and partnering services offered among printing firms will curb job growth, certain sectors of the industry will experience more employment increase than will others.

Employment in support activities for printing is expected to decline because more companies are preparing printing and performing postpress in-house. Employment in commercial printing companies is projected to rise, but only modestly, as digital printing technology allows clients to perform more work in-house. Employment in manifold business forms should continue to decrease as firms take customers’ orders over the Internet, a development that allows companies to disseminate purchasing information throughout all departments much more easily. Declining employment in blankbooks and looseleaf binding firms also reflects increased competition from imports and a shrinking export market share for this industry segment.

Employment growth will differ among the various occupations in the printing industry, largely because of technological advances. Processes currently performed manually are being computerized, causing a shift from craft occupations to related occupations that perform the same function. For example, employment of desktop publishing specialists is expected to increase much faster than the average for all occupations over the 2002-12 period as the elements of print production, including layout, design, and printing, increasingly are performed electronically. In contrast, demand for Prepress technicians and workers; particularly those who perform these tasks manually, including pasteup workers, photoengravers, camera operators, film strippers, and platemakers-is expected to decline. Job printers, however, are expected to experience growth as some firms contract out typesetting and composition work to the small shops in which job printers are primarily employed. In response to the growth in electronic printing, employment of press operators is expected to decline, as is that of bookbinders and bindery workers.

New technology and equipment will require workers to update their skills to remain competitive in the job market. For example, pasteup workers will have to learn how to lay out pages using a computer or face losing their jobs. The concepts and principles behind page layout and design are unchanged, but the workers will have to learn how to perform their work using different tools.