Industry Earnings
In 2004, average weekly earnings for production workers in the printing industry were $604, compared with $659 for all production workers in manufacturing. Weekly wages in the printing industry can vary significantly by industry sector but in commercial lithographic, the industry's largest activity, median weekly wages are $671. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in the industry also vary as shown in table 3.
The principal union in this industry is the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. About 6 percent of printing industry employees are union members or are covered by a union contract, compared with 14 percent of workers throughout the economy, but this proportion varies greatly from city to city.
| Occupation | Printing | All industries |
|---|---|---|
Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing, except technical and scientific products | $25.20 | $21.83 |
First-line supervisors/managers of production and operating workers | 22.77 | 21.51 |
Prepress technicians and workers | 15.91 | 15.30 |
Graphic designers | 15.79 | 18.28 |
Job printers | 15.67 | 15.41 |
Printing machine operators | 15.16 | 14.38 |
Customer service representatives | 14.86 | 12.99 |
Bindery workers | 11.60 | 11.31 |
Machine feeders and offbearers | 11.12 | 10.68 |
Helpers--production workers | 10.17 | 9.70 |