US Printing Workers Earn Up to RMB 320,000 a Year! Running a Printing Press in the US Is Like Running a Small Printing Factory in China

How much can you earn in a year running a printing press in the US?

The average annual salary is about RMB 217,800,

and at RR Donnelley it reaches as high as RMB 327,100.

Looking back at China,

for example at Dashengda,

workers earn RMB 63,200 a year,

if you follow the "two shifts, one day off per week" working schedule common in China's printing industry,

the income from running a printing press in the US is equivalent to running a small printing factory in China.

China's labor costs are still much lower than those in the US,

and there is still a lot of room for printing factories to improve efficiency.

How much can you earn in a year running a printing press in the US? RR Donnelley's average annual salary is RMB 327,100

On Indeed, a mainstream US job search website, entering "Press Operator" shows that the average wage for this position in the US is $14.47/hour, about RMB 103/hour at the current exchange rate.

This figure is calculated from 7,826 samples over the past three years and should be fairly representative. However, "press operator" here is relatively general, unlike in China, where the roles are divided in detail into machine chief, first assistant, second assistant, apprentice and so on.

Of course, the average is only one aspect. Even for the same job of running a printing press, the pay offered by different companies varies quite a lot. For example, Amcor in the US offers an average wage of $21.09/hour for this position, the highest among companies; some lower-ranked companies offer only slightly more than the US minimum hourly wage standard ($7.25/hour).

$14.47/hour, or RMB 103/hour; based on 8 hours a day and 22 days a month, running a printing press in the US earns an average of $2,546.72 a month, about RMB 18,152; and $30,560 a year, about RMB 217,800.

Such income looks decent in RMB, but in the US it can only be considered average. That is because the US is currently working to implement a $15/hour minimum wage standard nationwide, and the average wage of "press operators" is still a little short of that level.

On Indeed, there are two other positions similar to "press operator": one is "Print Operator", the other is "Pressman" (which carries both the meaning of printing press operator and journalist), with average wages of $13.98/hour and $18.82/hour respectively.

In New York, a first-tier US city that has already taken the lead in implementing the $15/hour minimum wage standard, the average hourly wage for "press operators" is as high as $20.41, considerably higher than elsewhere; the average annual salary is $44,850, about RMB 319,700. Such a level is still somewhat enviable.

Indeed not only provides wage standards for different positions, but also allows you to look up each company's approximate average wage level by company. Let's try the US printing giants RR Donnelley and QUAD/Graphics.

These two companies rank first and second respectively in the "Top 400 North American Printing Companies". How do their wage levels compare?

It turns out that for the same "press operator" position, RR Donnelley's average wage level is $45,874/year (about RMB 327,100), while QUAD/Graphics is $18.02/hour (equivalent to an annual salary of about $38,058).

Average wages for some positions at the two US printing giants:

Both companies also have a position called "Operator"; RR Donnelley's average wage is $37,597/year, and QUAD/Graphics is $18.75/hour (equivalent to an annual salary of about $39,600).

In addition, RR Donnelley's "Bindery Operator" has an average wage of $36,616/year; QUAD/Graphics' "Finisher" has an average wage of $14.48/hour (equivalent to an annual salary of about $30,582).

Indeed also provides the average wages for RR Donnelley's "Customer Service Representative" and "Forklift Operator", at $39,649/year and $12.09/hour (equivalent to an annual salary of about $25,534) respectively.

At the printing center of the People's Daily, workers monitor the entire printing process from the press control console.

Photo by Di Ming

Dashengda Workers Earn RMB 63,200 a Year; Income from Running a Printing Press in the US Is Like Running a Small Printing Factory in China

Now that we have a reference for the wage levels of American printing workers, what about the situation in China?

At first glance, the gap is still quite large.

Judging by the average wage of US "press operators", their income level of nearly RMB 220,000 a year is clearly something that printing workers in similar positions in China can only envy.

Moreover, if you follow the "two shifts, one day off per week" working schedule common in China's printing industry, the average annual income of US "press operators" could at least double, reaching the level of RMB 400,000 to 500,000.

In China, that is basically equivalent to running a small printing factory.

Bear in mind that in 2018 the average profit of domestic printing enterprises was only RMB 730,000, and that was before income tax. Of course, such long working hours would probably be hard to put into practice in the US.

Having said all that, what exactly are the wage levels of Chinese printing workers? Let's look at the prospectuses of Jinshi Technology and Dashengda, both of which are stock market "rookies" that successfully completed IPOs this year.

It turns out that: Jinshi Technology, which makes cigarette packaging, had an all-employee average wage of RMB 83,300/year in 2018; Dashengda, which makes cartons, had RMB 70,100/year.

Beyond the all-employee average wage, both companies also disclosed the pay levels for different positions. For example, for the same "production personnel" category, Jinshi Technology's average wage is RMB 71,000/year, while Dashengda's is RMB 63,200/year.

In addition, the average wages of the two companies' "sales personnel" are RMB 96,800/year and RMB 100,700/year respectively; the average wages of "management and administrative personnel" are RMB 121,900/year and RMB 96,800/year respectively.

Average wage levels of 4 listed companies in the printing industry (unit: 10,000 yuan/year):

Looking further back, we can also find that: in 2016, on the eve of its listing, Shanghai-based Xianggang Technology had an all-employee average wage of RMB 94,900/year; in 2015, on the eve of its listing, industry leader Yutong Technology had an all-employee average wage of RMB 57,500/year.

Although these are not the same years, it is obvious that Xianggang Technology's wage level is somewhat higher than the other 3 companies, which may be related to its location.

Just as with the same "press operator" position, wages in New York are higher than elsewhere in the US.

Yutong's seemingly lower wage level is related to its larger number of employees and the relatively large proportion of frontline production personnel. In 2015, Yutong's frontline production personnel had an average wage of RMB 3,960.43/month, and all "production personnel" had an average wage of RMB 50,300/year. In the same year, Xianggang Technology's "production personnel" had an average wage of RMB 71,100/year, and in 2016 it reached RMB 81,300/year.

As for "management and administrative personnel", Yutong's average wage is still very competitive, reaching RMB 128,800/year in 2015, higher than Jinshi Technology's and Dashengda's 2018 levels, and slightly lower than Xianggang Technology's RMB 133,500/year in 2016.

The Average Wage for Running a Printing Press in the US Is More Than 8 Times That in China; There Is Great Room to Improve Efficiency in China's Printing Factories

Now we have US data, and a rough reference for China too. Just how big is the wage gap between printing workers on the two sides? It feels like the gap is not small, but it is not easy to compare directly, because the definitions are not entirely the same.

Still, we might as well compare relatively close positions: US "press operators" versus the "production personnel" of our 4 listed companies.

Simply put, the average wage of US "press operators" is about RMB 217,800/year, roughly 2.5-4 times the average wage of the "production personnel" of the 4 listed companies.

Assuming that the "production personnel" of the 4 listed companies also work the "two shifts, one day off per week" schedule, and that their average wages include overtime income, the average wage of US "press operators" may be 5-8 times our actual wage level.

It should also be noted that the income levels of "press operators" at RR Donnelley and QUAD/Graphics in the US are both considerably higher than the industry average wage.

Even the relatively lower-paid binding and post-press operators exceed the average wage level of US "press operators". If we take the two giants as a reference, the gap between us and them is even larger.

That is why, even though US printing quotes look so much higher than ours, printing factories still find it hard to make money. And why, for printed products that are slightly more complex and require more manual labor, Americans will send them all the way to China to be printed.

If you made the same printed products requiring the same labor, and worked in the US at Chinese quoting standards, that meager processing fee probably would not even be enough to cover wages.

Of course, there is no need for us to be overly envious of the income levels of our American counterparts. Because the two countries are at different stages of development and have different living costs, the income gap is an objectively existing reality. This is true in the printing industry, and much the same in other industries.

Moreover, judging from the data disclosed by the 4 listed companies, the average wage level in the printing industry has risen steadily in recent years. For example: in 2018, Jinshi Technology's all-employee average wage increased 22.55% over 2016; Dashengda rose 8.35%. In 2016, Xianggang Technology's all-employee average wage increased 41.43% over 2014. In 2015, Yutong's all-employee average wage increased 27.49% over 2013.

Employee income is a cost that enterprises must pay. With average wages rising steadily, just how high are the labor costs of printing factories?

Let's look at the total compensation paid each year by the 4 listed companies as a proportion of their revenue.

From 2013 to 2015, Yutong Technology's total compensation paid was RMB 442 million, RMB 678 million and RMB 814 million respectively, accounting for 17.03%, 18.49% and 18.98% of revenue in each year. 2015 was 1.95 percentage points higher than 2013.

Total compensation as a proportion of revenue for the 4 listed companies in the printing industry:

In 2018, Jinshi Technology's and Dashengda's total compensation accounted for 7.41% and 9.91% of revenue respectively, up 3.10 and 0.96 percentage points over 2016. In 2016, Xianggang Technology's total compensation accounted for 18.99% of revenue, up 7.19 percentage points over 2014.

PS: Yutong Technology's total compensation comes from its prospectus; the total compensation of the other 3 companies is estimated by multiplying each company's all-employee average wage by the number of employees at year-end, for reference only.

Looked at this way, the labor costs of printing factories are indeed rising, but the change in their proportion of revenue is clearly lower than the increase in average wages.

Why is this? On the one hand, each company's revenue is growing; on the other hand, with the technological upgrading and equipment introduction at printing factories, the production efficiency of printing workers is rising rapidly, and the amount of labor needed per unit of output continues to decline.

This makes us feel, as never before, that the continuous automation and intelligent upgrading of printing factories is truly indispensable. Because the rise in the average social wage level is an inevitable trend, and the printing industry is no exception.

Under such circumstances, to ensure a relatively stable profit margin, business owners must do everything possible to continuously improve efficiency and reduce the demand for labor.

In any case, China's labor costs are still much lower than those in the US, and there is still a lot of room for printing factories to improve efficiency.