Job market information
Finding out about publishing
The publishing industry is part of the creative industries, which is represented by Creative Skillset. This includes: advertising; animation; computer games; corporate and commercial production; fashion and textiles; film; interactive media; photo imaging; publishing; radio; and television.
Publishing is made up of many different sub‐sectors, including: books; journals (including electronic journals); newspapers; news agencies; magazines and business media; directories and databases; and newsletters and reports. Newspapers, covering both national and local newspapers, are the largest sub‐sector employing over 60,000, around 30% of the sector. The smallest sub‐sector is News Agencies, which employs 24,000 and comprises 11% of the sector.
Key facts:
- There are over 200,000 people employed in the publishing industry, representing less than 1% of all those working in the UK.
- Over 60,000 of the publishing workforce is employed in newspapers.
- The publishing industry generates a turnover of £8.3 billion Gross Value Added and is one of the biggest earners for the UK creative media industries.
- 85% of business have less than 24 employees, 3% have 200 or more employees.
- The majority of companies are based in London and the South East of England.
- Around 45% of the workforce has a degree.
Jobs in the industry include: Editor, Illustrator, Journalist, Indexer, Licensing Manager, Commissioning Editor, Managing Editor, Production Editor, Sales Executive, Marketing Manager, Publicity Assistant.
Entry and progression
Employers look for people who can demonstrate a well‐informed passion and enthusiasm for the sector, and who show initiative and creativity in the way they approach their work.
Publishing is highly competitive industry; so many entry level jobs are taken by graduates. Entrants will often need to have undertaken some work experience and may need to take a postgraduate course.
Publishers usually expect a good first degree, and they might expect in addition, a specialist subject for your degree or a pre‐entry certificate in an occupational area (e.g. a National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) or Periodicals Training Council (PTC) recognised qualifications). High levels of literacy and numeracy are expected. Personal qualities and people skills are just as important in order to get into the industry and transferable business skills are highly rated.
There are a range of industry endorsed courses (both at undergraduate and post‐graduate), training schemes and a Diploma available.
For job specific entry requirements, take a look at our job profiles.
Workforce statistics
| Number of UK employees: |
over 200,000 |
|---|
| Gender: |
53% male |
47% female – more women are needed in senior management positions |
|---|
| Age: |
52% of the workforce is aged 20‐39 years |
|---|
| 6% of the workforce in newspapers and 11% news agencies are aged 16‐19 years |
| Ethnicity: |
94% of the workforce is from white ethnic groups |
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| 11% report themselves as having a disability or some form of long‐term illness |
Employment trends and future prospects
Emerging markets in the UK and internationally will impact on future employment trends in the publishing industry. The workforce will have to adapt to these changes, together with the need to adopt new technologies. Publishing has shifted to make use of new technologies, particularly mobile technologies and to take advantage of multi‐platform publishing opportunities. These changes have significant implications on intellectual property and sales, with a need to anticipate where competition comes from.
Skill requirements and shortages
The main skills issues are around the different ways the customer can access products), how to develop content for different formats and how to sell that content in new and emerging markets in the UK and internationally.
Gaps range from the high‐end business management and leadership skills needed to develop and drive creative and commercial strategy, to technical skills which will need constantly updating in light of emerging technologies. Sound project management, communication and team‐working skills are also in demand.
Occupational trends
There is no current information on occupational trends in the publishing industry.
National and regional data
The main geographical area of employment is London and the South East. The North West (including Merseyside) is next, followed by Scotland, the South West and the West Midlands. In Wales and Northern Ireland the sector is predominately made up of small publishers and news media.
East Midlands – There are approximately 9,000 jobs in publishing. The industry is primarily focussed around consumer, business and professional journals & periodicals, as well as newspapers
East of England – There are approximately 25,000 people employed in the East of England. This is clustered around book publishing, newspapers, as well as consumer, business & professional journals & periodicals.
London – London has the largest publishing workforce with approximately 52,000 employed. Consumer, business & profession journals & periodicals makes up the largest employment sub sector at 20,000, but there is also a substantial workforce of 10,000 in both book publishing and other publishing activities.
North East – Approximately 16,000 people are employed in publishing in the North East comprised of 8,00 in newspapers, 4,000 in other publishing activities, 2,000 in both book publishing and consumer, business & professional journals & periodicals.
North West – There are currently no statistics for this region.
South East – The South East employs around 25,000 people in the publishing sector. Much of this work is clustered around book publishing at 11,000 and newspapers at 9,000 (more than any other region).
South West – 19,000 people are employed in the publishing sector in the South West. Other publishing activities makes up 6,000 of the total and book publishing and consumer, business & profession journals & periodicals have around 5,000 within each.
West Midlands – Approximately 6,000 people are employed in publishing in the West Midlands, predominately in newspaper publishing at 4,000.
Yorkshire and the Humber – The Yorkshire and Humber has a workforce of around 6,000 people predominately in newspaper publishing.
Northern Ireland – Northern Ireland has a relatively small publishing industry at around 1,000 people, all in the area of newspapers.
Scotland – Scotland has a publishing workforce of around 9,000 people mainly in newspapers at 7,000 and a further 2,000 in book publishing.
Wales – Wales has a small publishing workforce of around 2,000 employees mostly working in newspapers.
National and Regional information on the publishing sector in the nations and regions is based on the Labour Force Survey (ONS) Apr‐Jun 2009.
Salary levels
There is no current information on salary rates in the publishing industry.
BECTU 
, the industry trade union, can advise on rates for freelancers working in the industry.
Career paths
Further sources
Produced Sept 2010, using Skillet AACS LMI report (Jun 2010)
