Books Printing · the United States
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Net establishment formation, 5yr | -2.59% |
| Standing among all industries | 8th of 287 |
| Reads as | shrinking hard |
| Signal strength, backtested | ρ 0.57 over 4 windows |
Among 287 industries, this one sits at the 8th percentile on net establishment formation over 2019-2023 — it is shrinking hard. That signal carries a measured rank correlation of 0.57 with the following decade's growth across 4 backtested windows, separating top and bottom deciles by 42.6 percentage points. It describes the INDUSTRY, not a business in it, and it was calibrated against establishment growth rather than returns to an operator.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Operators | 130 |
| People employed | 3,283 |
| Pay per employee | $54,158 |
| What the work is | Printing Press Operators |
| Median wage, that occupation | $45,720 |
| Licensed in | no matching record |
| Dimension | Weight | Evidence | Predicts? |
|---|---|---|---|
| O1 · Demand density and recurrence | 25 | evidenced | predictive |
| O2 · Payment evidence | 15 | partial | not backtested |
| O3 · Licence gate favourability | 15 | no producer | not backtested |
| O4 · Labour availability | 15 | evidenced | not backtested |
| O5 · Incumbent weakness | 10 | no producer | not backtested |
| O6 · Margin structure | 10 | partial | not backtested |
| O7 · Ceiling | 10 | evidenced | DESCRIPTIVE ONLY |
50 of 100 rubric points are evidenced, 25 partially, 25 have no producer. No total score is rendered from that. PREDICTS is a separate question from EVIDENCE: a dimension can rest on a real sourced figure and have no measured relationship with what happens next.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Acquisition loans approved | 62 |
| Median loan | $487,338 |
| Mean rate | 7.59% |
| Mean term | 129 months |
| Charged off | 13.5% |
13.5% of resolved SBA acquisition loans in this industry were charged off, across 37 loans that have actually reached an outcome. Cohorts from FY2021 onward are EXCLUDED from this rate: a loan approved recently has not had time to fail, and counting it would make every industry look safe. SBA 7(a) FOIA data, FY2010–FY2026. Loans to acquire an EXISTING business, separated from start-up lending by the SBA's own business-age field. Charge-off is measured on RESOLVED loans only — a loan approved last year has not had time to fail.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Margin on receipts | 59.9% |
| Computed as | value added — receipts less cost of materials |
| Industry receipts | $5.0bn |
Computed by the Census Bureau, not by us. Economic Census 2022. Census collects a cost structure for this sector and collects none for most service industries; where it does not, this document shows labour share and refuses to call it a margin.
| Revenue band ($000) | Firms | Share | Labour share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| <100 | 58 | 16.6% | 32.1% |
| 100-499 | 106 | 30.3% | 36.1% |
| 500-999 | 41 | 11.7% | 32.3% |
| 1,000-2,499 | 46 | 13.1% | 29.3% |
| 2,500-4,999 | 21 | 6.0% | 27.8% |
| 5,000-7,499 | 15 | 4.3% | 24.7% |
| 7,500-9,999 | 8 | 2.3% | 29.1% |
| 10,000-14,999 | 16 | 4.6% | 23.9% |
| 15,000-19,999 | 5 | 1.4% | 23.6% |
| 30,000-34,999 | 6 | 1.7% | 23.7% |
| 50,000-74,999 | 9 | 2.6% | 17.6% |
| 75,000-99,999 | 6 | 1.7% | 20.8% |
| 100,000+ | 13 | 3.7% | 20.3% |
Payroll is 21.1% of receipts industry-wide across 350 firms. LABOUR SHARE, NOT MARGIN: Census publishes receipts and payroll and never cost of goods, so gross margin cannot be derived and is not claimed here. Enterprise receipts — a firm counted once at its total size, not per location. Census SUSB 2022.
| Gap |
|---|
| licences in any state — no occupation in this industry matched a title in the national register. That may mean unlicensed, or licensed municipally, and the two are different findings. |
| occupation mix for NAICS 323117 — the labour statistics carry no rows at this level, so everything about occupations here, including the defining occupation and its licence gate, is measured at NAICS 323100, a broader grouping. Establishment counts are for 323117 itself. |
| bonding_required_usd — no producer, and not estimated |
Stated rather than filled. An absence of match is not an absence of fact.
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