The U.S. lost about 2.7 million jobs in 2008, and the publishing industry was not immune from the wave of job cuts that swept across most industries. At a minimum, publishers eliminated 1,200 jobs last year, a figure that includes only cuts that PW was able to confirm and report on during 2008. The deepest cuts came at McGraw-Hill Education, which eliminated 445 positions last year. Scholastic's downsizing efforts reduced its workforce by approximately 300 positions in 2008, including 110 employees who accepted buyout packages. The integration of Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt likely resulted in the most layoffs in the industry, but PW was able to document only those jobs eliminated on the trade side. Including the closing of its San Diego office, the HMH Trade & Reference Group eliminated about 85 jobs last year. The toll on the education side is believed to be much higher, although the company has never released an official number. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that 700 positions had been cut in the integration of HM and Harcourt (those 700 jobs are not counted in PW's total).
Other significant downsizings last year included the elimination of a total of 114 positions at Thomas Nelson, which came in two rounds; the first cuts came in response to Nelson's decision to publish fewer titles, while the second was blamed on slowing sales. Another company that eliminated approximately 100 jobs in 2008 was Meredith Corp., which, for all intents and purposes, exited the book business last year; it signed a licensing agreement with John Wiley in November giving Wiley exclusive rights to publish and distribute books based on various Meredith brands and taking over distribution of existing titles. Another publisher tied to the housing market, Creative Homeowner, also downsized last year in the face of the severe housing recession. Although it did not disclose how many jobs it eliminated, parent company Courier said it had reduced Creative's payroll by about $1 million in 2008.
There are no current statistics on the number of people involved in book publishing. The most recent figure from the U.S. Census Bureau put the number of book publishing employees at 83,600 in 2005, down from 85,000 in 2004. The Census Bureau counted 3,359 publishing companies in 2005, 18 fewer than in 2004.
