Boston-based Semper is the leading US placement firm for skilled help in the graphic arts and printing industry and has been doing a quarterly survey of 300 commercial printers of all sizes on both their hiring trends and the mood of the industry for the past decade.

This latest survey found 40% of respondents reporting that Q4 sales were up over the third quarter, while only 28% reported a decrease. Nearly 79% also reported turning a Q4 profit, though Semper CEO Dave Regan suggested some of that was due to a surge in election-related print spends during the first five weeks of the fourth quarter.

But that increase was followed by what looks like a decrease in revenues during the rest of November, December and into January, he added.

"Perhaps the biggest surprise in this latest survey is how pessimistic people are to begin the year," Regan explained to PrintWeek. "The majority of the respondents said they expected sales during this first quarter to be a lot less."

Regan suggested the highly publicized political battle in Washington over the "fiscal cliff" seemed to have had a trickle down affect, not only triggering a decline in Q4 GDP but also leading to cautious spending in the current quarter.

"After Thanksgiving we saw a big slowdown and that was all due to the fiscal cliff," he added, noting that nearly 37% of respondents reported a January slowdown in sales.

But the current slowdown apparently isn’t enough to impact hiring. More than 21% of respondents said they are looking to add staff in the current three-month period — that’s up from 16% who were looking to hire during Q4.