Career Opportunities

After completing your Graphic Arts/Desktop Publishing degree, you will be prepared for jobs in the following areas:

• Desktop Publishing/Electronic Composition
• Digital Illustration and Photography
• Electronic Scanning and Image Editing
• Web Page Construction
• Film Stripping, Proofing, and Platemaking
• Electronic Imposition and Digital Proofing
• Offset Press Operation and Screen Printing
• Programmable Cutting/Bindery Operations
• Production Planning and Cost Estimating

If a management position is your goal, your Graphic Arts/Desktop Publishing degree provides an excellent technical base for transfer to most university graphic arts programs.

Significant Points about Graphic Arts Technicians

Excerpts from the Occupational Outlook Handbook 2002-2003 Edition, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.

• The demand for traditional ink-on paper printing will continue to grow. According to the Department of Labor, most new jobs will result from expansion of the printing industry as demand for printed material increases in response to demographic trends, U.S. expansion into foreign markets, and growing use of direct mail by advertisers. Demand for books and magazines will increase as school enrollments rise, and as substantial growth in the middle-aged and older population spurs adult education and leisure reading. Additional growth should stem from increased foreign demand for domestic trade publications, professional and scientific works, and mass-market books such as paperbacks.
• Advances in computer software and printing technology continue to change prepress work. Prepress technicians and workers use their computers to produce material that looks like the desired finished product. This process, called "desktop publishing," poses many new challenges for the printing industry.
• Formal post-secondary programs in printing equipment operation offered by technical and trade schools and community colleges are growing in importance. Post-secondary courses in printing are increasingly important because they provide the theoretical knowledge needed to operate advanced equipment.
• Prepress technicians and workers held about 162,000 jobs in 2000. Most of these prepress jobs were found in firms that handle commercial or business printing, and in newspaper plants. A large number of jobs also are found in printing trade services firms and "in-plant" operations.
• Median hourly earnings of prepress technicians and workers were $14.57 in 2000. The middle 50 percent earned between $10.70 and $19.12 an hour. The highest 10 percent earned more than $23.57 an hour.
• Most plants have or will soon have installed printing presses, with computers and sophisticated instruments to control press operations, making it possible to set up for jobs in less time. With this equipment, press operators monitor the printing process on a control panel or computer monitor, which allows them to adjust the press electronically.
• Press operators held about 222,000 jobs in 2000. Most press operator jobs were in newspaper plants or in firms handling commercial or business printing. Additional jobs were in the "in-plant" section of organizations and businesses that do their own printing-such as banks, insurance companies, and government agencies.
• Median hourly earnings of printing machine operators were $13.57 in 2000. The middle 50 percent earned between $10.38 and $17.80 an hour. The highest 10 percent earned more than $21.92 an hour.