Print Activity on the Rise

NAPL’s Printing Business Index, the graphic communications industry trade association’s broadest measure of print activity, rose to 59.1 in March 2006 from 56.5 in February and 55.9 in January. (A reading above 50.0 means more printers report activity is picking up than report activity is slowing down; a reading below 50.0 means the opposite.) Gains in pricing, work-on-hand, hiring, and hiring plans account for the increase.

Commercial printing industry sales also increased in the first months of 2006, up 8.5% in February and 5.9% in January, compared to year-earlier levels.