The printing industry produces materials ranging from newspapers, magazines, and books to brochures, labels, newsletters, postcards, memo pads, business order forms, checks, maps, T-shirts, and packaging. Printing methods include lithography, flexography, gravure, screen-printing, and letterpress.

Lithography uses the basic principle that water repels oil. It is the most widely used printing process in the industry. Flexography produces vibrant colors with little rub-off. This is used in the printing of newspapers, directories, and books. Gravure's high-quality reproduction, flexible pagination and formats, and consistent print quality are used in packaging and product printing. Screen-printing prints designs on clothes and other fabric items, like caps. Letterpresses print images from raised surfaces on which ink sits. The raised surfaces are generated by means of casting, acid etching, or photo emulsion.

The printing industry is undergoing technological changes as computers and technology change the way work is performed. Many of the things once done by hand are now automated. The influence of technology is seen in the three stages of printing:

• Prepress is the preparation of materials for printing.

• Output is the actual printing process.

• Post press, or finishing, is the folding, binding, and trimming of printed sheets into their final form.

The most significant change is in the prepress stage. Rather than cutting and pasting articles by hand, printers now produce entire publications on a computer, complete with artwork and graphics. Columns can be displayed and arranged on the computer screen exactly as they will appear in print. Almost all prepress work is now computerized, and prepress workers need a good deal of training in computers and graphic design software.

Workers enter the printing industry with diverse educational backgrounds. Helpers usually have a high school or vocational school background, while management trainees usually have a college background. Job applicants must be high school graduates with mathematical, computer, and verbal and written communication skills. Training and experience in desktop publishing is becoming extremely important.

Workers are generally trained informally on the job. The length of this training varies. New hires learn their trade under the close supervision of a more seasoned employee. Through experience and training, workers can advance to more responsible positions.

Employment in the printing industry is expected to decline over the next decade, both in the public and private sector. This is because of the growing computerization of the printing process as well as the increasing use of the Internet, which reduces the need for printed materials.

The average weekly earnings for production workers in the printing industry is $604. The main union for this industry is the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.