The most recent Industry Insights survey conducted by Semper International, a temporary help placement firm for the graphic arts and printing industry in the U.S., reveals positive signs for the future of the business with respect to increasing sales and hiring activity.
According to the survey results, recovery from the economic downturn may be in full swing for printers as 73% of companies reported a profitable fourth quarter, an increase of nearly 13 percentage points over the previous quarter.
The greatest competitive threat to printers, as revealed by the survey, continues to be technology (the fear of what competititors are doing and how a company may need to respond) as indicated by 48% of respondents, outweighing supply costs (26%) and labor costs (19%). These results are largely unchanged from the previous quarter
The vast majority of respondents indicated that hiring levels will remain the same or increase, and there was a marked increase in companies that will be hiring.
With respect to hiring, referrals (37%) and online searches (33%) seem to be the most popular ways to find employees according to the survey.
The Industry Insight surveys are designed by Semper corporate partner Cvent, and survey participants include more than 300 small, medium and large printing companies providing data on revenue and hiring as well as estimated outlooks on future trends.
