PRINT'S WORKFORCE TO SHRINK BY A FIFTH

Print’s global workforce will shrink by 20 per cent over the next five years, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum. 

However, industry figures say that does not mean the print industry itself will shrink, citing ongoing consolidation, automation and the continued evolution of small print shops away from manufacturing and into a hybrid model with a print broking operation, as the key reasons labour requirements are decreasing.

The report by the World Economic Forum, which meets in Davos, Switzerland, each year says the print industry will show the fastest jobs decline of all manufacturing industries, and the sixth fastest of all sectors.

Printers say the shedding of jobs does not correlate with a corresponding downturn, but is a clear manifestation of automation across prepress, the pressroom and the bindery, which with the advent of AI and the move to the smart printshop will only increase, reducing the need for labour further.

The industry also points to the growing trend among smaller printers – who make up the majority of the industry – to running hybrid operations, outsource an increasing amount of work, or even all of it, rather than risk their mortgage on a new press, and having the associated labour, rent and overhead costs.