overall printing employment remains steady

Publishing in general had a generally strong summer, but ebbed as the summer came to a close. Overall publishing employment was up +0.7% from October to November 2022, but up +5.7% from November 2021.

Digging into the specific publishing segments, employment is also fairly flat: from September to October 2022, periodical publishing employment was down -1.2%, while newspaper publishing employment was up +0.4%.

The creative markets were doing a bit better. Graphic design employment was up +1.0% from September to October 2022, ad agencies (less PR) were up +0.8%, and public relations was the bright spot this month, being up +3.2% in October. Direct mail advertising employment was also up +0.3% in October.

As for November employment in general, the BLS reported on December 7 that total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in November, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.7%. Meanwhile, September employment was revised down by 46,000 and October employment was revised up by 23,000. Ergo, employment gains in September and October combined were 23,000 lower than previously reported.

The unemployment rate hit a low of 3.5% in September, so a rise to 3.7% is still pretty good. 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) dropped to a record low of 6.7%. Ultimately, the November employment report in general was higher than economists’ expectations.

Still, the labor force participation rate ticked down from 62.2% in October to 62.1% in November, and the employment-to-population ratio decreased from 60.0% to 59.9%. The labor force participation rate for 24–54-year-olds also ticked down from 82.5% to 82.4%.

As this issue was going to press, the BLS released its December employment figures, and while we have not dug into the industry-specific employment figures, the headline unemployment rate ticked back down to 3.5% with total nonfarm payroll employment increasing by 223,000 in December.