Printing Press Operators
Set up and operate digital, letterpress, lithographic, flexographic, gravure, or other printing machines. Includes short-run offset printing presses.
- Median pay
- $45,780
- Doing it now
- 144,000
- By 2035
- Down 8.7%
- Usually needs
- High school diploma or equivalent
a year
across the country
12,100 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Adjust ink fountain flow rates.
- Change press plates, blankets, or cylinders, as required.
- Clean ink fountains, plates, or printing unit cylinders when press runs are completed.
- Clean or oil presses or make minor repairs, using hand tools.
- Collect and inspect random samples during print runs to identify any necessary adjustments.
- Examine job orders to determine quantities to be printed, stock specifications, colors, or special printing instructions.
- Feed paper through press cylinders and adjust feed and tension controls.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- Graphic CommunicationsSee 143 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Organised and precise
Hands-on and practical
Leading and persuading
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $45,780 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.