Wednesday, February 22, 2012

New report: Gannett employment fell 5% last year; U.S. newspapers took biggest hit: loss of 1,500 jobs

In a new document filed this afternoon with federal securities regulators, Corporate says worldwide employment last year fell 5%, to 31,000 workers as of Dec. 31, from 32,600 in 2010.

It was the sixth consecutive year of employment declines, albeit at the smallest rate during that period, according to the Form 10-K annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ax man: Dubow
Employment last peaked at 52,600 in 2005, the year Craig Dubow became CEO and ushered in a period of massive layoffs and other payroll cuts before his resignation last October for medical reasons.

Among major divisions, the U.S. community newspapers lost the most: 1,500 jobs, or nearly 7%. Known as U.S. Community Publishing, the division includes 80 mostly smaller newspapers in the United States and Guam. It's the company's biggest division, and continues to struggle financially with the migration of advertising to the Web and mobile devices, including tablets.

(USA Today and the Detroit Free Press are in a separate group of their own; employment figures for that group aren't broken out, however.)

CareerBuilder hiring up
The U.K. newspaper division, Newsquest, suffered nearly as much: a decline of 6%, to 4,500 employees.

On the other hand, the GCI-controlled CareerBuilder went on a hiring spree. Its workforce soared 18% to 2,000 from 1,700 in 2010, as the industry's No. 1 employment site continued expanding overseas.

Although the company owns barely 51% of CareerBuilder, it counts all 2,000 employees as though they worked entirely for GCI. (Tribune, McClatchy and Microsoft own the rest of CareerBuilder.) GCI bought control in 2008. So, the employment figures in the table, below, prior to 2008 don't reflect CareerBuilder's workforce.

In broadcasting, which includes 23 TV stations in the United States, employment rose to 2,600 from 2,550 in 2010. It was the second consecutive year of small gains in the division.

U.S. Community Publishing
Newsquest
  • 2010: 4,800
  • Last year: 4,500
CareerBuilder 
  • 2010: 1,700
  • Last year: 2,000
Broadcasting
  • 2010: 2,550
  • Last year: 2,600
The following table shows total employment at Dec. 31 of each year. See this read-only spreadsheet for an easier-to-read view. (Reminder: figures prior to 2008 don't include all of CareerBuilder.)


Earlier: In 2010, worldwide employment fell 7%, to 32,600.

1 comment:

  1. Great Careerbuilder is doing so well but Gannett has chosen to take all hiring away from their Community newspapers and turn it over to Indie. Wilmington will no longer take employment ads starting on Monday. Even though they were making a profit. Hows that for innovative!

    ReplyDelete

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