Dr. Joe Webb is a very smart guy.  He runs WhatTheyThink.com, a graphic communications resource for analysis and economic forecasting.  Mostly he focuses on commercial printing but his weekly audio chart for December 1, 2008 caught my eyes and ears.

The chart he has put together using employment data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics shows that newspapers have lost roughly 15% of their employees since January 2005.  This highlights the fact that those companies were adjusting to a negative market well before any “financial crisis” hit America.

Simplified Chart by metaprinter.com

This chart is a simplified one that I whipped up.  The chart on Dr. Joe’s site is much more complex incorporating all print mediums as well as PR and Ad Agency employment.

Not one to mince words, Dr. Joe states that basically what we are seeing [on his chart] is, “newspapers dying on the vine…  in the long run this is probably an opportunity for commerical printers to move that printing over to the commercial side”.  To hear the dulcet tones of Dr. Joe’s voice visit his site and follow along as he explains the chart.