Midterms a boon for one Maryland industry: printing

Political candidates routinely pledge to fight for more jobs even though they often lack direct authority to boost employment.

But the mere act of campaigning does spur hiring in election years: Just ask the 600 printing companies in Maryland that employ 16,000 people with an average pay rate of $28 per hour, said Jay Goldscher, president and CEO of Printing and Graphics Association MidAtlantic.

With today’s elections approaching, the work of the industry’s political printers can be seen everywhere Maryland residents look these days: in mailboxes, door slots, medians and front yards.

“We’re working six to seven days a week, sometimes 24 hours a day” because of the Nov. 6 election, Goldscher said.

According to finance reports filed with the Maryland Board of Elections, campaigns have reported spending $3.35 million in 2018 through Oct. 21 on printing and campaign materials. That’s a 45 percent increase over the $2.3 million reported for the same time period during the 2014 gubernatorial campaign.

Typically, the Friday before Election Day is “D-Day,” Goldscher said. “If it’s not in the mail Friday, it’s not going to hit anyone’s mailbox before Tuesday.”

Early voting — the eight-day period that ended Thursday — has only “accelerated the pain,” he said.

“The work began to hit two weeks ago,” Goldscher said. “It’s great for our industry.”

Just visit Jack Weber’s 28,000-squarefoot building in Remington, home to the six-decade-old company Uptown Press.

“It’s rocking and rolling right now,” Weber said.

Campaign finance reports show that candidates already reported spending $215,000 with Uptown Press, which employs 30, for printing and campaign materials and direct mail.

“Elections are good for the economy and it’s been really good for me,” he said.

In addition to printing services, Weber provides data analysis of candidates’ dis- tricts to improve their targeting of voters. He said he has been surprised at how many more unaffiliated voters there are this year — an observation supported by recent registration data.

Unaffiliated voters are registering at higher rates than Republicans and Democrats in Maryland.

As of the end of September, the latest period for which the elections board provides numbers, 18 percent of voters were registered as independent — officially termed “unaffiliated.” That’s an 8 percent increase over September 2014. Democrats and Republicans each recorded 6 percent increases over the four-year period.

What surprises Weber even more is that clients haven’t taken his advice to aggressively target those voters.

“That’s been the biggest change I’ve observed from 2014 to 2018 — we have a huge influx of unaffiliated voters,” Weber said. “They’re an untapped resource.”