Where the Jobs
Are
FROM PUBLISHING
TRENDS (JUNE 2003)
Jobs
are still blipping into the ether as the publishing
universe continues its cosmic contraction, even as the
odd startup or new hire offers fleeting hope for the
résumé-weary (see chart, below). To get a grip on it
all, Publishing Trends has been monitoring the
job market in book publishing and related fields, both
by tracking individual personnel changes and by following
layoffs, relocations, job creation, and “benign reorganization.”
During the past four months, according to Publishing
Trends’analysis, the book business has shed 588
jobs, vastly more than an estimated 114 for the same
period in 2002. These figures are gleaned from industry
reports that generally don’t reflect hiring freezes
(when positions are open but not filled) or the elimination
of open jobs (when they’re axed outright). Moreover,
given the purposeful obfuscation of employment figures,
PT estimates that for every reported cut there
are at least an equal number of unreported job losses.
In sum, the total number of jobs that have vanished
in the publishing industry since the beginning of the
year is an estimated 1,200 to 1,500, including back
office and warehouse positions. Some of these are being
reincarnated as lower-level positions, and presumably
some will be reinstituted when the blue skies return.
New
Job Listings (week of May 19*)
Senior
Management: 5
Rights: 5
Sales and Marketing: 29
Art/production: 12
Editorial: 27
Other: 30
*Source:
NYT, PW, Publishers Marketplace
©2003
Publishing Trends
