Analysis: Media workforce down 23 percent in last decade

The number of employees working in the media has dropped 23 percent in the last decade, according to a new analysis.

According to a Pew Research analysis released Monday, in 2017 there were 88,000 employees working across newspapers, radio, cable and broadcast news. That number is down from 114,000 employees in 2008.

The decline in newspaper employees is starker.

The number of employees at newspapers across the U.S. declined 45 percent over the past decade, according to the analysis.  

{mosads}

Citing the Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics survey data, Pew reports that while 71,000 people were employed at U.S. newspapers in 2008, the number has dropped to just to 39,000 in 2017.

“Of the five industries studied, notable job growth occurred only in the digital-native news sector,” notes Pew, a nonpartisan fact tank based in Washington, D.C. 

“Since 2008, the number of digital-native newsroom employees increased by 79%, from about 7,400 workers to about 13,000 in 2017. This increase of about 6,000 total jobs, however, fell far short of offsetting the loss of about 32,000 newspaper newsroom jobs during the same period,” the reports adds. 

The study comes one week after another Pew Research study showing more than half of the largest newspapers in the U.S. have laid off employees since January 2017. 

Overall, the analysis found that nine of the 16 newspapers with circulations of 250,000 or more, or 56 percent, had experienced layoffs during a 16-month period ending in April.

The New York Daily News earlier this month cut half its editorial staff in another round of massive layoffs at the 99-year-old tabloid that now has only 40 employees remaining.