Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown a massive fall in the number of industry workers classed as skilled print workers over the past 15 years.
These skilled workers - pre-press technicians, printers, post-press workers, and print machine assistants - fell in number from 112,300 in 2006, to just 30,500 in 2021.
Research by training provider Electrician Courses 4 U showed that printing’s 72% fall was significantly worse off than any other trade - with the next fastest decline being that of cobblers at 62%, then welders at 59%.
This decline is also markedly more severe than that of the print and packaging industry’s employee population in general, which shrunk from 151,000 to 105,000 in the same period, according to a BPIF analysis of the ONS figures.
Kyle Jardine, the BPIF’s economist and Northern Ireland manager, called the fall in skilled labour - a drop of 73% compared to the overall fall in industry headcount of 30% - “a fairly dramatic reduction in numbers.”
He said, however, that the statistics were collected in 2021 during the pandemic - so the real number of print operators may be closer to the 2019 total of 50,300.
Between 2006 and 2019, the UK’s skilled print worker population shrunk by 55%.
Jardine added: “Undoubtedly increased automation and reduced machine manning levels have been significant factors during the 15 year period from 2006 to 2021.”
The automation of the industry likewise helps explain the shift from a predominantly skilled production-floor workforce within the industry, according to Brendan Perring, the IPIA’s general manager.
He told Printweek that the industry’s continuing innovation meant many machines are now essentially “plug-and-play” - and this has effectively removed the need for skilled labour across a number of print and finishing processes.
Some print businesses, he said, have hundreds of staff - very few of whom indeed would be classed as high-skilled workers.
He added that this was no indictment of the skills of people working in print - but rather the reality that few people need the weeks - or years - of formal training that classes a role as 'skilled'.
"Now you can have a very complex, highly powered finishing or print device, which needs just three or four days of training and being shown how it works at maximum, and you'd be able to pick it up and run with it," he said.
Charles Jarrold, CEO of the BPIF, also commented: “I suppose the backdrop for that period is the structural change in communications with the introduction of the iphone (2007) and the coming of the internet age.
“For our sector, we’ve seen the very significant impact on newspapers (regionals particularly.)”
In the two decades from 2000 to 2020, national newspaper sales declined by almost two-thirds (65%), according to the Press Gazette; in the 15 years to 2020, the UK saw a net loss of around 265 local papers.
“For what it’s worth,” Jarrold added, “while the overall number of employees and number of companies has reduced, the actual size of the industry has not diminished to the same extent – c. £14bn to c. £12.5bn [at the] start of this year.
“I’d also add that apprenticeship training remains as strong and popular as ever, we’ve seen that grow back up to pre-pandemic levels this year, and expect that to continue to grow.
“As we know, there’s a real skills shortage out there, suggesting that if skilled workers have needed to move as the sector changes in shape, they have found roles, and demand continues to exceed supply.”
