What is the printing industry? The goal of this study is to discuss definitions for the U.S. printing industry and the “print universe.” The print universe is our term for an expanded view of establishments that produce some kind of reproduction as a service. There are about a dozen major sources of information about the printing industry with the primary source as the Federal Government. Printing is one of the most documented industries in the United States; yet, each of the sources arrives at a different view for the size and scope of the industry. This report investigates the challenges in developing a meaningful set of criteria for defining and quantifying the printing industry. Using a list compiled from Yellow Pages listings, we developed a database of 7,071 firms from the six New England states and New York State, and surveyed over 1,000 firms. The result is a snapshot of what the printing industry and the print universe are and how its demographics might be structured
