… because there’s not going to be much hiring next year, E&P reports. And I just love this part:
Companies “see some improving advertising trends right now,” and that keeps them from continuing to downsize, said Kevin Gruneich, newspaper analyst with Bear, Stearns & Co. But he predicted industry employment will stay flat next year. Most companies have “tackled health care and benefits costs pretty well, as they’ve pushed most of that cost to the employees. … But given that the advertising recovery has been choppy, we just don’t see much movement to hire at this point.”
Peter Appert, who follows newspapers for Goldman Sachs, said that after having cut an estimated 10% out of the workforce over the past three years, publishers could still trim as much as 1% next year. Companies are intent on protecting or growing profit margins, and he projected labor costs would rise about 4% to 5%. Reductions will come through attrition in manufacturing, distribution, and administration, rather than news and sales, he predicted.
People will always be cynical about the motives of the press when its publishers have such high standards of decency and justice for everybody but themselves.