Posted on 12/16/2009 12:48:04 PM PST by abb
The newspaper industry is expected to lose nearly 25% of its jobs by 2018, according to a new federal Bureau of Labor Statistics report.
The Employment Projections Summary examines the expected job loss or gain for each industry between 2008, the last year for which data is available, and 2018. Newspapers rank seventh among the top 10 industries slated for job losses.
BLS data shows that there were approximately 326,000 newspaper jobs at the end of 2008, with a prediction that there will be just 245,000 in 2018, a 24.8% drop.
"I suspect what has happened in recent years has a big influence on how they predict the future," said newspaper analyst John Morton. "I don't know how they base those predictions. It is an unknown. A lot of it is going to depend on how the newspaper industry comes out of the recession and how successful they are in translating their business onto the Internet."
BLS officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rick Edmonds, media business analyst at The Poynter Institute, said the prediction is not a surprise: "That is consistent with what has been happening the past three years. But I don't think the next three years will be as bad."
Expected newspaper job losses ranked behind only department stores, semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing, motor vehicle parts, postal services, printing, and cut-and-sew apparel manufacturing.
"One thing that would be supportive of newspaper employment is that 70% of daily newspapers have circulation under 50,000," Morton added. "Those kinds of newspapers have suffered far less than big city papers have. Going forward, they will suffer less."
Only 25%? They’re lucky.
it will be far higher than 25% (unless they are assuming massive government bailouts)
Had to go to the store on my lunch hour today. While waiting in the checkout line behind an idiot who was trying to figure out how much she could still spend on her ACCESS food stamp card (AAARGH!) I picked up a copy of the Pittsburgh P-G for the first time in many moons. It has very drastically shrunk in size from what I remember. My high-school paper printed some editions that were larger. Looks like they are in full retrench mode and are trying to put it out there as cheaply as possible. Which is good because I was able to pretty much get through it before that idiot completed her purchase.
I think the Bureau of Labor Statistics is being optimistic.
I find that anecdote shocking considering the strong demand to read the mind-blowing leftism of Connie Schultz and Regina Brett.
“Tempted to ask him how that Hope and Change is working for him.”
Do it and I’ll buy you a fat jelly-filled doughnut. Ask him when his squirrely wife cut off his _____ and I’ll throw in a cup of coffee.
(We must ____ off liberals when the opportunity presents itself.) Makes the liberal feel rotten and you feel better.
In any event it sounds, more to me, like a threat or hope than a prediction. LOL
That prediction is about the worst ever.
The rate of decline will continue to be steep and may turn asymptotic if papers begin to die in even modest numbers.
I really don’t believe this number.
The only way that it can be justified is if reporters who work in many many non-print types of news reporting are included as “newspaper” jobs. By 2018, I suspect that there will only be a few reporters if any who are engaged solely in newsprint reporting. Nearly all news will be some type of instant/electronic media instead.
Bad news, IMHO. It means that 75% of those filthy evil lying swine will still be employed. Although I have to say I don’t entirely despise newspapers. I have to use something to keep the spray paint off my garage floor.
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